Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2019-20

Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2019-20

This bulletin forms part of the Scottish Government series of statistical bulletins on the criminal justice system. Statistics are presented on criminal proceedings concluded in Scottish courts and on a range of measures available as alternatives to prosecution, which are issued by the police and by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Detailed figures for 2019-20 are presented, along with selected trends for the last ten years. Please note this publication covers the period ending in March 2020, so court volumes presented here would have been largely unaffected by the Coronavirus pandemic, and doesn't cover offences introduced by Coronavirus legislation (see Annex B29).

Further detailed tables are published as background statistics on the Scottish Government Crime and Justice Statistics website.

A total of 85,726 people were proceeded against in Scottish criminal courts in 2019-20, a fall of 4% on 2018-19 (89,725 proceedings). The number of convictions fell at the same rate (4%) down to 75,251 in 2019-20 (from 78,488 in 2018-19). This continues the general downward trend of the last ten years (Chart 1). Convictions in 2019-20 were 35% lower than the ten-year high of 115,581 in 2010-11.