'Particularly Worrying': Reports of Sex Crimes Reach Highest Level in 45 Years

The data was released as part of the Scottish government's annual statistics on recorded crime, the Telegraph reports. Despite a slight decline in reports of rape and attempted this year, both crimes have increased sharply in the last five years, increasing an overall 60 percent between 2010 to 2016.

Sexual assault has increased by 6 percent over the last year, reflecting an overall increase of 36 percent over the past four years. In some areas—like the remote and beautiful Highlands—sexual assault increased by 56 percent over the space of a single year.Other sexual crimes—including those involving underage children, incest, and indecent exposure—exhibited the most dramatic rise, up 140 percent in the last six years, with a 20 percent increase in 2015 alone.

While the numbers may seem shocking, police and some campaigners believe that the increase may not actually be a bad thing—it indicates that people feel more confident in reporting the crime to police. Too often, victims of rape and sexual abuse often stay silent for a number of factors: social stigma, fear their case won't be taken seriously, or trauma and shock. Sometimes, they may not even understand that what happened to them constituted abuse until many years later.

"I do think it's welcome news," says Marsha Scott, CEO of Women's Aid Scotland in a phone call to Broadly. "It's likely that this shift represents more confidence in being treated respectfully in the system. It may also reflect systems that that the police and the authorities have put in place to deal more expeditiously with sexual violence, which keeps women in the system and more likely to report again."

"The increase in the reports of sexual crime is in part a reflection of the increased level of confidence the public has in reporting this type of crime to the police," says Deputy Chief Constable Iain Livingstone of Police Scotland. "Every complaint will be handled sensitively and professionally. This equally applies to reports of historical abuse."

A Scottish government spokesperson situated the figures within the context of a national rise in recorded sex crimes. "Levels of recorded sexual crime have increased across all of the UK in recent years and today's figures help confirm this UK-wide trend," they told Broadly. They also emphasize how the internet has fuelled a new type of sexual violence against women and children: A recent report from the police regulator HMICS found that 11.4 percent of sexual crime had a cyber element.

In part due to the success of women's and anti-violence campaigners, recent years have seen major changes to how sex crimes are investigated by the criminal justice system, such as the establishment of a National Rape Task Force. "It is likely that at least some of the increase in recorded sexual crime is due to people having more confidence to report what has happened to them," Rape Crisis Scotland acknowledges in a statement on their website. "However, it is also possible that there has been a significant increase in the actual levels of sexual crime taking place."

The answer, aside from stringent policing when crimes do take happen, is prevention. "Young people overwhelmingly tell us that they need information and support …[we need to ensure that all] young people in Scotland have access to appropriate information and support around consent and healthy sexual relationships."