SOARING CRIME FIGURES ARE SHAME OF SCOTLAND

Rape charity condemns Scottish Government over surge in attacks

- RICHARD ELIAS

RAPE cases and violent crime in Scotland have soared over the past four years, shocking figures show.

Last night, critics slammed the SNP's under-25 sentencing guidelines as one reason, saying the policy emboldened criminals. The comment came as the latest figures revealed over the past year, there has been an 11 per cent rise is sexually-motivated attacks.

The chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland said the country must do more to "stop rape before it happens".

Sandy Brindley stated: "It should be Scotland's biggest source of shame that we continue to see unprecedented levels of sexual violence against women and girls.

"Despite many other types of crime being in decline, reports of rape continue to rise at an alarming rate.

"We know that many survivors choose not to report what has happened to them, so the real number is likely much higher."

Ms Brindley continued: "There are also other causes for alarm, like a sharp rise in incidents of so-called revenge porn over the past year.

"Scotland must do more to stop rape before it happens.harassment and even sexual assault at school." She added: "Prevention work in Scotland is desperately under-resourced, yet it is the first and often only line of defence in stopping this behaviour in its tracks." Violent crime has also soared despite the Scottish Government yesterday claiming Scotland was a "safe place".

However, senior police officrs believe that the actual figure is even far higher due to many offences going unreported.

The new statistics show that there 3,043 reports of rape or attempted rape in the year up to September.