HC Deb 18 December 1972 vol 848 cc305-6W
Mr. Sillars

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish the figures for murder in Scotland for the period 1945 to 1971; and if he will state the number of murders in Scotland this year to the nearest available date.

Mr. Gordon Campbell

The following two tables give the numbers of cases of murders made known to the police in Scotland in the years 1945 to 1971. The table dealing with cases since 1957 is adjusted up to date; that is to say, it takes account of any subsequent events, for example, judicial determinations, which establish that a case originally recorded as murder did not constitute murder. Similar figures are not available for the period before 1957 and the first table gives cases as published in the annual Criminal Statistics, that is to say, of cases still treated as murder at the end of the relevant year, and does not exclude cases subsequently established not to be murder. Comparable figures for the current year are not available.

Murder—number of cases known to the police in Scotland—1945–1956. Figures as published in criminal statistics:
1945 24
1946 18
1947 16
1948 14
1949 14
1950 21
1951 9
1952 13
1953 18
1954 14
1955 11
1956 13

Murder—number of cases known to the police in Scotland—1957–1971. Latest corrected figures:
1957 11
1958 15
1959 12
1960 14
1961 10
1962 24
1963 14
1964 23
1965 29
1966 29
1967 38
1968 37
1969 26
1970 28
1971 42

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