Illegal drug use is a big problem in Scotland. Scotland has the highest rate of drug related deaths in Europe and figures of police seizures of illegal drugs have significantly increased suggesting that drug use is a growing problem
The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 criminalised controlling behaviours of offenders such as restricting your partner's access to money and repeatedly putting a partner down through insults
There were nearly 900 religious hate crime offences in 2012 and in 2022 this fell to 428 religious hate crime charges reported to the public prosecution service in Scotland
Programmes and initiatives aiming to tackle knife crime
The Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU) was set up in 2005 and works with communities, schools and social services, as well as the NHS to try to tackle the problem
Many prisoners in UK prisons have shown symptoms that are linked to mental health issues such as schizophrenia which may have led to delusions or distorted their perception of reality leading to the individual to committing a crime
If a child is brought up in a family where there is poor parenting (neglect/abuse) and/or where the parents have problems in their own lives, such as drug addictions, then that child is far more likely to be involved in crime as they get older
People feel pressured to engage in criminal activity for fear of rejection or being bullied by their friends. They then commit crimes in order to be 'accepted'
Some teenagers may become involved in anti-social behaviour such as drinking alcohol at weekends or getting involved in street fights with teenagers from other parts of the town
When a person consumes alcohol they often lack the inhibitions that they might otherwise have when sober. People under the influence of alcohol are more likely to take 'chances' or become argumentative than normal
Living in poverty can lead to lack of education, poor housing and unemployment, meaning that people living in poverty cannot meet their basic needs and as a consequence turn to crime in order to do so
Crimes of greed usually occur when an individual is relatively wealthy but wants even more, turning to white collar crimes such as embezzlement, fraud and money laundering
Families that rely on the victim's or the perpetrator's income may struggle to pay their bills such as mortgage/rent payments, energy costs and other necessities which could lead to them getting into debt
Should the victim or the perpetrator be the highest earner in the household then their family may have to give up their home which could contribute to stress and other mental health issues