The SNP are the problem, not the solution
Scotland is in the grip of a “wave” of violent and sexual crime, it has been claimed after official figures showed a sharp increase in both last year.
The Scottish Government disclosed that the number of sex crimes, including rapes, increased by eight per cent to the highest level ever recorded.
Violent crime surged by 10 per cent, with the number of homicides, attempted murders and serious assaults all rising by four per cent compared to the previous year.
However, the police clear-up rate for violent crime decreased by 2.8 percentage points to the lowest level since 2010-11, while the proportion of sex crimes solved fell to its lowest level since 1979.
Overall crime levels rose by one per cent last year, although it remains at one of the lowest levels seen since 1974, with the total down 27 per cent since 2009/10.
Humza Yousaf, the SNP Justice Minister, said many of the sex crimes were historic and announced a 16-month project into the impact of violent crime.
But the Tories blamed the figures on a “catastrophic failure of the SNP’s soft-touch approach to justice”, while Labour attacked a cut in police numbers.
Liam Kerr, the Scottish Conservatives’ Shadow Justice Minister, said: “The worrying and significant rise in sexual and violent crime is compounded by the decreasing clear up rates, in what will be devastating news for victims.
“The SNP’s failure to ensure we have enough police on the streets is clearly having a negative impact, and their decision to abolish prison sentences of less than a year will only make things worse.”
James Kelly, Scottish Labour’s justice spokesman, said: “Communities across Scotland are in the grip of a wave of rising crime.”
The number of sex crimes in 2018/19 increased to 13,547. The total has increased every year over the past decade and are at their highest level since comparable statistics were first produced in 1971.
An accompanying report said Police Scotland believes increased reporting could partly explain the sharp rise. Historic sex crimes dating from previous years accounted for a quarter of the total.
“At least” 39 per cent of the cases involved a victim under the age of 18, the report said, a proportion similar to the previous year.
Rape and attempted rape cases surged by eight per cent to 2,426 last year, more than double the total recorded in 2010/11. Sexual assaults rose by six per cent to 5,123, with the total increasing by 76 per cent since 2011/12. More than half (18) of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas reported a rise.
In addition, there were 596 cases involving the new offence of “disclosing or threatening to disclose an intimate image”, which aims to tackle so called “revenge porn” cases of victims being targeted by their former sexual partners.
The police clear-up rate for all sex crimes fell to 58.1 per cent, down from 76.5 per cent in 2014/15. The proportion of rapes and attempted rapes that were solved fell to a low of 52.7 per cent.
The sharp rise in violent crime includes a 16 per cent rise in robberies, while the police clear-up rate fell to 73.3 per cent.
Mr Yousaf said: “”While there is less crime and fewer victims than a decade ago, the impact on victims, particularly of sexual or violent crimes, is often devastating.
“That is why we are strengthening how Scotland’s justice system and other public services support victims, while investing in both law enforcement and crime prevention projects.”
Source: Telegraph
This article follows on from out other article [here] on the SNP fiddling figures to keep the crime stats down.
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