Impact of crime on victims, offenders and their familiesWho is affected by crime?
Certain sectors of society can be affected by crime in different ways and annual statistics can reveal important trends about who carries out and who is affected by crime.
The chances of being a victim of a crime are not the same for every person. People from some groups are more likely to be victims of crime than others.
The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2019/2020 shows these statistics for crime:
3.1% of men experienced violent crime compared to 2% of women
5.4% of 16-24-year-olds experienced crime compared to 0.6% of people aged 60+ years
5.3% of people in the 15% most deprived areas experienced crime compared to 2.1% for the rest of Scotland
2.8% of people in urban areas experienced crime compared to 1.4% in rural areas
For property crime the pattern is similar e.g. 14% of 16-24-year-olds experienced property crime compared to 6.4% of people aged 60+ years.
Most adults (88.1%) experienced no crime in 2019/20. The SCJS estimates that the proportion of adults experiencing crime has fallen from 20.4% in 2008/09 to 11.9% in 2019/20.
In 2019/20, 10.0% of adults were estimated to have been a victim of property crime, down from 18.0% in 2008/9, and 2.5% of adults had been a victim of violent crime, down from 4.1% in 2008/09.