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• Crime Clear up Rates

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Statistics on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland, including clear up rates recorded by Police Scotland.

This data covers the percentage of recorded crimes and offences that were cleared up by the police in Scotland between 1996/97 to 2022/23 and by Local Authority.

Crimes cleared up by the police as a percentage of crimes recorded. For more information on recorded crime figures see the Scottish Government Recorded Crime in Scotland website.

The definition of “cleared up” is noted below. This definition came into force with effect from 1 April 1996.

A crime or offence is regarded as cleared up where there exists a sufficiency of evidence under Scots law, to justify consideration of criminal proceedings.

Clear up rates are calculated as follows: (number of recorded crimes cleared up in year y / total number of recorded crimes in year y) x 100.

Crimes or offences recorded by the police as cleared up in one financial year, year y, may have been committed and therefore recorded in a previous year, i.e. year y-1. This means that the number of crimes and offences cleared up are being expressed as a percentage of a different set of crimes or offences. This means that clear up rates in excess of 100% can arise in a given year.

The statistical return from which the data are taken is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the police. Returns are submitted quarterly from Police Scotland at local authority level which allows a national total to be obtained.

Crimes and offences are included against the year in which they are recorded by the police. This is not necessarily the year in which the crime or offence took place, the year in which the accused is brought to trial for the crime or offence, or the year in which the case is finally disposed of by the courts.

Note: An errata was published on 19th September - due to an IT issue, a small number of crimes were not included in the originally published data. A total of ten crimes have been added to the 2022/23 recorded crime totals as a result. These crimes fall within the Weapons possession (not used) and Weapons possession (used) categories.

Amendments (such as the deletion of incidents found on investigation not to be criminal) which arise after the end of the financial year are not incorporated.

Contraventions of Scottish criminal law are divided for statistical purposes into crimes and offences. “Crime” is generally used for the more serious criminal acts; the less serious termed “offences”, although the term “offence” may also be used in relation to serious breaches of criminal law. The distinction is made only for working purposes and the “seriousness” of the offence is generally related to the maximum sentence that can be imposed. For further information see the Recorded Crime Statistics in Scotland: user guide.