Impact of crime on victims, offenders and their familiesWho commits 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.
Statistics show that some groups of people are more likely to commit crime than others. People are more likely to commit crime if they are:
Younger – the peak age for criminal convictions is 21-25 for males and 26-30 for females. For offences (minor crimes, eg breach of the peace) the peak age is lower for both males and females
Male - most crime, over 80%, is committed by men. In 2022, the Scottish Government statistics stated only one-in-six people convicted of a crime were female (17%)
Living in an urban area – most crime happens in big cities. Scottish Government statistics show the local authority areas of Dundee, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh have the highest number of recorded crimes in Scotland in 2022-23. However, within each of these cities criminality rates vary with the most deprived urban areas consistently having more people involved in crime than those in the least deprived areas.
In Scotland in 2021-22, 67,643 people were taken to court. This was an increase of 45% from 2020-21 (although 2020-21 covers the pandemic period when court activity was reduced) but down from 101,017 in 2012-13.
Of the 67,643 people taken to court in 2020-21, 59,295 were convicted (88%). This was a fall of 3% from 2020-21. (source)
