Violent Crime

Images and reports of violent crime dominates the media, influencing public opinion and the response of policy-makers and the courts to such offences. However, for criminologists, the issue of violent crime is a problematic one, invariably shaped by social, cultural, economical, historical and political factors. At the heart of this debate is the problem of defining ‘violence’. Although there may be a general consensus that domestic violence and serious assault are violent acts for example, there is no consensus when it comes to matters such as corporate negligence that leads to death or serious injury. Moreover, the relationship between violence and crime can also be problematic. For example, acts of terrorism are unquestionably violent, but do they constitute a crime? How one answers questions like this will depend very much on wider social, cultural, historical and political factors.

With this caveat in mind, violent crime is defined by the Scottish criminal justice system as violence against an individual (such as murder or serious assault), sexual offences (such as rape or indecent assault) and robbery.

For information on domestic violence and sexual offences, visit these pages on the CJSW website.

The Scottish Government collects crime (including violent crime) statistics for Scotland, details of which can be found here. The Home Office also collects statistics for England and Wales.

The Centre holds a small number of books on violent crime, details of which can be found here.