Crime and violence: policy context  

Efforts to tackle crime are reflected in many policy documents.

• The Scottish Government has two National Outcomes with direct relevance to crime and violence, namely that children and young people “grow up loved, safe and respected so that they realise their full potential”, and that people “live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe”. National Indicators used to measure progress against these outcomes are the percentage of people who think crime in their area has stayed the same or reduced in the past 2 years (see progress here), and the proportion of adults who have been the victim of crime in the past year (see progress here). 

• Scotland’s Public Health Priorities: Priority 1 is for "A Scotland where we live in vibrant, healthy and safe places and communities".

• The Scottish Government’s priorities for collective efforts to achieve a safe, just and resilient Scotland are set out in Justice in Scotland: Vision and Priorities (2017) and most recently in the updated strategic document The Vision for Justice in Scotland (2022).  
• The 2015-2020 Youth Justice Strategy, Preventing Offending: getting it right for children and young people, advocates a whole system approach to improve the life chances for children and young people and, therefore, reduce their likelihood of offending.
• Community justice refers to managing and supporting offenders on their release from a penal institution. The Community Justice (Scotland) Act (2016) and the Scottish Government’s revised National Strategy for Community Justice (2022) aim to improve community justice by adopting a preventative approach. The National Strategy for Community Justice Delivery Plan (2024) sets out how the strategy will be implemented. 
• NHS Health Scotland’s 2017 Reducing Offending, Reducing Inequalities report highlights the health and social determinants of offending in the context of reducing health inequalities in Scotland, and achieving ‘better health, better lives’ through community justice.
• The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 consolidated and strengthened existing law, raised the maximum penalty for trafficking, and gave police and prosecutors a new set of tools to prevent and detect trafficking. The Scottish Government set out its approach and commitment to tackling human trafficking in the 2017 Human trafficking and exploitation strategy.

Violence reduction and prevention is vital to achieving a healthier and safer Scotland. The Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU) was set up in 2005 to target all forms of violent behaviour, in particular knife crime and weapon carrying among young men in and around Glasgow. In April 2006, the SVRU remit was extended nationally by the then Scottish Executive, creating a national centre of expertise on tackling violence. The unit adopts a public health approach to violence reduction and aims to reduce and prevent violence by working across different sectors, focusing on enforcement and tackling the fundamental causes of violent behaviour.

In addition to the work of the SVRU, there are a number of policy areas and initiatives that focus on violence reduction and prevention: 

• Equally Safe: Scotland's strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls (2018)
• Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018
• Reducing Offending, Reducing Inequality (2017)
• Justice in Scotland: Vision and Priorities (2017)
• Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016
• Preventing Offending: Getting it right for children and young people (2015)
• Alcohol Framework 2018: Preventing Harm
• Scotland's National Action Plan for Human Rights (SNAP) 2013-2017
• National Parenting Strategy (2012)
• Getting it right for every child
• Getting Our Priorities Right (2013)
• Equally Well: Report of the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities (2008)
• No Knives Better Lives (2009)