Coronavirus (COVID-19): Justice Analytical Services Data Report - July 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.

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Criminal Registered & Scheduled Trials

Since the initial lockdown in March 2020, there have been 104,953 criminal registrations in the courts. 516 of these registrations have been COVID-19 related (0.5%).

In July 2021, almost all types of court registration remained lower than 2019-20 averages. Solemn sheriff court registrations in July 2021 were 15% higher than the 19-20 average. JP registrations were almost 40% lower than the 19-20 average.

  • Indictments registered in the High Court were 22% lower than the 19-20 average.
  • Indictments registered in the Sheriff court (solemn cases) were 15% above the 19-20 average.
  • Complaints (summary cases) registered in the Sheriff Court were 19% lower than the 19-20 average.
  • Complaints registered in the JP court were 39% lower than the 19-20 average.
Cases Registered 19-20 monthly average July 2021 Change from 19-20 monthly average Outstanding trials March 2020 Outstanding trials July 2021
Indictments
High Court 85 66 -19 (-22%) 390 325
Sheriff Court 454 520 +66 (+15%) 497 1,684
Complaints
Sheriff Court 5,478 4,440 -1,038 (-19%) 13,971 33,602
JP Court 2,799 1,717 -1,082 (-39%) 3,497 7,730

At the end of July 2021 there were 43,341 trials outstanding. This compares to 18,355 at the end of 2019-20. In addition, SCTS have forecast that there are another 5,657 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.

Contact

Email: Justice_Analysts@gov.scot

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