Reported incidents of domestic abuse are likely to continue to rise over the coming years, according to Lily Greenan, the Manager of Scottish Women’s Aid. Her comments come as the latest domestic abuse statistics are published.
The figures show that 60,080 incidents of domestic abuse were recorded by the police in Scotland in 2012-13 – up very slightly on the 59,847 incidents recorded in 2011-12.
“We expect reported incidents of domestic abuse to continue to rise as the awareness of domestic abuse increases, professionals receive more training and as a result, women are encouraged to report the abuse they are experiencing to the police,” said Ms Greenan.
“The development of an effective, robust criminal justice response is crucial to the long term prevention of domestic abuse,” she added. “We commend the high priority Police Scotland has given to tackling domestic abuse since its establishment in April this year.”
Responding to the statistics, Police Scotland Chief Superintendent Bob Hamilton stressed that the police has dedicated significant resources towards tackling domestic abuse in recent years.
“As well as supporting victims, we have placed a much greater emphasis on targeting repeat and serial offenders,” he said. “The figures have increased and this is in part we believe due to increased levels of confidence that members of the public who experienced abuse of this nature have in coming forward and reporting to the police. It's something we have worked hard to foster and would continue to encourage.”
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