Statements

Domestic Abuse and Stalking charges in Scotland, 2024-25

An Official Statistics publication was published today.

This provides information on charges reported to the Procurator Fiscal and identified as relating to Domestic Abuse. It includes information on charges under section 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, following the implementation of this legislation on 1 April 2019.  

The main findings are: 

  • In 2024-25, 30,227 charges were reported to COPFS with a domestic abuse identifier. This is a slight increase of 0.4% compared to the 2023-24 total of 30,100.  
  • The vast majority of charges identified as relating to domestic abuse are prosecuted. An initial decision was made to proceed to court with 92% of charges in 2024-25.
  • The most common types of offences reported in 2024-25 with a domestic abuse identifier were crimes against public justice (includes bail offences) at 26%, threatening and abusive behaviour offences (25%) and common assault offences (23%).  
  • The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 came into force on 1st April 2019, creating a new statutory offence of engaging in a course of behaviour which is abusive of a partner or ex-partner.
  • In 2024-25, 2,028 charges were reported under this legislation, accounting for 6.7% of all domestic abuse charges reported.
  • In 2024-25, 953 stalking charges under section 39 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 were reported to COPFS. Of these, 495 (52 percent) were identified as domestic abuse.