Coronavirus (COVID-19): Justice Analytical Services data report - August 2021

Monthly data report on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the justice system in Scotland, including information from Police Scotland, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, and Scottish Prison Service.


Criminal Registered & Scheduled Trials

Since the initial lockdown in March 2020, there have been 112,167 criminal registrations in the courts. 553 of these registrations have been COVID-19 related (0.5%).

In August 2021, all types of court registration remained lower than 2019-20 averages, although the number of indictments registered in the Sheriff court is returning to pre-pandemic levels.

  • Indictments registered in the High Court were 56% lower than the 19-20 average.
  • Indictments registered in the Sheriff court (solemn cases) were 2% below the 19-20 average.
  • Complaints (summary cases) registered in the Sheriff Court were 14% lower than the 19-20 average.
  • Complaints registered in the JP court were 28% lower than the 19-20 average.
Cases Registered 19-20 monthly average August 2021 Change from
19-20 monthly average
Outstanding trials March 2020 Outstanding trials August 2021
Indictments
High Court 85 37 -48 (-56%) 390 432
Sheriff Court 454 447 -7 (-2%) 497 1,781
Complaints
Sheriff Court 5,458 4,718 -740 (-14%) 13,971 33,369
JP Court 2,799 2,012 -787 (-28%) 3,497 7,944

At the end of August 2021 there were 43,526 trials outstanding. This compares to 18,355 at the end of 2019-20. In addition, SCTS have forecast that there are another 5,093 cases in the system which are likely to come to trial but have not yet had a trial date set (see SCTS published monthly criminal statistics for more detail - https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/official-statistics).

Contact

Email: justice_analysts@gov.scot

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