Charity notes “deeply worrying” figures as almost half of victims revealed to be under 18
RAPE CRISIS SCOTLAND (RCS) have called for better education and support in order to tackle the scourge of sexual crimes that have seen a 7 per cent rise in official reporting the past year.
Greater confidence in coming forward was key in the rise, according to RCS.
The group’s statement followed the latest crime statistics by Scottish Government’s latest that found that 43 per cent of victims of sexual offences were under the age of 18.
“Young people overwhelming tells us that they need information and support on these issues.” Sandy Brindley
Sandy Brindley, national coordinator for RCS said: "It is important that people have confidence in reporting sexual crime.
“Changes introduced by Police Scotland in recent years have transformed how sexual crime is investigated in Scotland. 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.
“However, it is also possible that there has been a significant increase in the actual levels of sexual crime taking place. Particularly worrying is the high level of sexual offences being experienced by children and young people in Scotland – in 43 per cent of sexual crimes, the victim was under 18.”
“Young people overwhelming tells us that they need information and support on these issues.”
Ms Brindley called for better education and support to be given to young people in a bid to drive down incidents of sexual crime.
“Rape Crisis Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to ensure that every young people in Scotland has access to appropriate information and support around consent and healthy sexual relationships." Sandy Brindley
She additionally drew attention to the charities prevention project which has worked with over 18,000 young people in over 100 schools since 2013.
“Rape Crisis Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to ensure that every young people in Scotland has access to appropriate information and support around consent and healthy sexual relationships," Brindley said.
“In the past three years we have worked with over 18,000 young people, and in 102 schools across the country. Young people overwhelming tells us that they need information and support on these issues. Rape Crisis Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to ensure that every young people in Scotland has access to appropriate information and support around consent and healthy sexual relationships."
Between 2014 and 2016, 10,273 sexual crimes were recorded by Police Scotland with rape and attempted rape making up almost a fifth of all reported incidents.
The report also found sexual crimes had more than doubled in the past decade, being on a upward trend since 1974, and have increased each consecutive year since 2008 to 2009. Sexual crimes are now at their highest level since 1971, which was the first year in which comparable crime groups were recorded. This figure bucks the over all trend which showed total incidents of reported crime are at their lowest level for over 40 years.
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