Rape Crisis Scotland: Sex crime report rise 'really worrying'

Sexual assault reports alone saw a 20% increase between June 2021 and 2022, with overall sex crimes increasing by 7% (941) in the same period, jumping by 14% (1825) compared to the year ending June 2018.

And, although the number of rape and attempted rape reports decreased by 1% (from 2477 to 2455 crimes) between 2021 and 2022 – this was still an increase of 10% on 2018’s figure (2237).

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Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS), told The National that the number of reports of rape and attempted rape dropped dramatically at the start of the pandemic when restrictions were brought in.

She said: “As restrictions eased, we saw the level of reporting increase and we are now back up to greater than pre-pandemic levels.

“It’s positive in some sense because we know that rape is a particularly underreported crime, we want people to feel able to report it if that is the right thing for them.

“At the same time whenever we see these figures, we can never rule out that there might be more rapes happening as opposed to just more confidence in reporting.

Brindley is Rape Crisis Scotland's chief executive

“I think it’s really worrying that there’s an increase in the actual level of sexual crime being carried out in Scotland because it is very devastating in its impact on people’s lives.”

Between 2020 and 2021, RCS centres supported 6096 individuals across the country, 90% of whom were women.

Sexual abuse occurs more often in the survivor’s home than any other location, when this is known, with over 38% of attacks taking place in their own residence compared to over 28% in the perpetrator's home and almost 8% outside.

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Although the increase in reports has been welcomed, there is also an evident issue of underreporting when it comes to sexual crimes.

In 2020-21, just over half of survivors (52.01%) who sought support from a rape crisis centre in Scotland had reported the attack to police.

Brindley said that this is “still the case”, adding that at the start of the pandemic the number of calls to the rape crisis helpline dropped dramatically, but saw a resurgence after a month or two.

She said: “What we found was people were phoning us from their cars, from their cupboards in their house, just trying to find a safe space to talk because either they were living with their rapist or they didn’t feel able to tell their family or friends that they lived with what had happened to them.

Justice Secretary Brown said there were "multiple factors" behind the increase in sexual crimes (Image: PA)

“I think there was a real difficulty at the start for people to find a safe space where they could call us.”

Aside from rape and sexual assault, a number of other sexual crimes saw an increase, the latest police Scotland figures revealed.

Communicating indecently increased by 1% compared to 2021 (1525 to 1533 crimes), and by 24% from 2018 (1238). Threatening and disclosing intimate images increased by 9% from 2021 (801 to 870) but jumped by a huge 64% from 2018 (532).

Meanwhile, crimes involving indecent photographs of children increased by one report (682 to 683), but when compared to 2018 it was a 4% rise (654).

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Brindley said that there needs to be a focus on educating young people and adults about “consent and healthy relationships” to push a culture shift.

“I think if we’re going to reduce the levels of sexual crime happening in Scotland, we really need to be serious about prevention.

“I think that does start in our schools but it's also about the general adult population about challenging sexual attitudes, challenging attitudes towards women’s sexuality, looking at trying to create a culture where women’s sexual autonomy is respected.”

The chief executive has been spearheading a campaign calling for judge-led trials to decide rape trials in a bid to clear the backlog by Covid-19, hoping that a potential boost to the conviction rate would encourage more victims to come forward.

Deputy chief constable Fiona Taylor, left, with chief constable Iain Livingstone

Scottish Conservative MSP Craig Hoy said the increase in violent and sexual crimes is “troubling”, claiming that the Scottish Government caused a “crime wave” through “mismanagement of the justice system”.

Commenting on the figures Fiona Taylor, Police Scotland’s deputy chief constable, said: “Recorded sexual crimes continue to increase, as has been a long-term trend, and we wish to assure survivors they will be listened to and treated with dignity and respect when they come forward.”

Justice Secretary Keith Brown said: “While the police cleared up more sexual crimes in 2021-22 than ever before, like many other countries, Scotland continues to see growth in reported cases.

“Multiple factors lie behind the increase including a greater willingness of victims to come forward, more historical reporting, more online offending and the impact of new legislation.”