Criminal justice statistics user guide
This document provides detailed information on the Criminal Proceedings and Reconviction Rates in Scotland statistical bulletins. It is designed as a reference guide with explanatory notes regarding issues and classifications which are crucial to the production and presentation of criminal justice statistics in Scotland.
10. Legislative and policy changes
Legislative and policy changes can introduce new offences, repeal old ones and modify criminal justice in other ways that will affect how these statistics should be interpreted. Some of the most important changes are listed below in reverse date order.
10.1 Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024
The Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 was brought into effect in stages beginning 28 August 2024. The act includes several changes, including ending the use of Young Offenders Institutions for those under-18.
10.2 Hate Crime and Public Order Act (Scotland) 2021
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 came into force on 1 April 2024. The Act consolidated existing hate crime legislation, abolished the common law offence of blasphemy and introduced new offences for stirring up hatred against groups defined by specific protected characteristics.
10.3 Offensive Weapons Act 2019
On 28 June 2022, Section 6 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 was implemented. This includes the introduction of an offence of having a corrosive substance in a public place. Sections 44 and 46 of the legislation came into effect on 27 March 2023, meaning the possession of certain offensive weapons is now illegal in both public and private. Section 44 prohibits the possession of certain dangerous knives in private places. Section 46 prohibits the possession of listed offensive weapons in private places.
10.4 Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019
The Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019 came into full effect on 17 December 2021 and means children under 12 could no longer be charged or arrested.
10.5 Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2021
The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2021 came into effect on 5 November 2021. Under this new law, owners of dogs that attack or worry livestock can be fined up to £40,000 or sent to prison for up to 12 months.
10.6 Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021
The Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 came into effect on 24 August 2021. This introduced a new crime of Common Assault of a Retail Worker and the first proceedings for this crime were included in the 2021 to 2022 bulletin. Common Assault of a Retail Worker forms part of the Common assault crime category.
10.7 Breach of adult at risk banning order
From 1 April 2021, Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 offences (also called Breach of adult at risk banning orders) were no longer counted as a crime. This charge does not relate to a criminal offence and was created to allow the circumstances to be reported to the Procurator Fiscal. The exclusion from the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland and Reconviction Rates in Scotland totals were also backdated.
10.8 Animal and Wildlife (Penalties, Protection and Power) (Scotland) Act 2020
The Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protection and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020 came into force on 30 November 2020. This increased penalties for animal welfare and health offences as well as wildlife crimes.
10.9 Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020
The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 was introduced in April 2020. National lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic were in place from 24 March to 19 June 2020 and 5 January to 22 February 2021. This resulted in significant reduced activity in both the number of reports being referred to COPFS and the number of proceedings going through Scottish courts. Local tiered restrictions also affected court activity in various regions across Scotland throughout 2020 to 21 when national lockdowns were not in place. Criminal Proceedings in Scotland and Reconviction Rates in Scotland figures demonstrate the continued recovery of the justice system following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 to 2023 financial year marked a return to normal court capacities following the court closures and reduced capacities of 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022. However, data continue to reflect the challenges of dealing with the resulting backlog of cases. Despite a fall in total prosecutions and convictions in 2023 to 2024, the numbers of solemn proceedings (the longest and most complex cases) increased. Although the impact of the pandemic is evident across these figures, caution should be taken in attributing any changes entirely to this ongoing situation. As the data continues to be affected by the pandemic and the justice system’s recovery, figures from 2020 to 2021 onwards should not be considered indicative of longer-term trends.
10.10 Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018
The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (DASA) introduced a crime relating to a person engaging in a course of behaviour relating to domestic abuse. There is also a provision for a new statutory aggravation relating to children, which is aggravated if the offence directs behaviour at a child, or uses a child to direct behaviour at the partner/ex-partner. It came into force on 1 April 2019.
In the past, these types of crimes will often have been convicted under individual charges in other crime or offence categories, including Stalking, Threatening or abusive behaviour and Common assault. Therefore, this may have affected the numbers of proceedings and convictions for both these crimes and those with a statutory domestic abuse aggravation or domestic abuse identifier.
The introduction of this act is also likely to influence the numbers of proceedings and convictions classified as Non-sexual violence. DASA was placed in this category after consultation with users.
10.11 Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012
The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012, which came into effect on 1 March 2012, was repealed on 20 April 2018. See Annex E7 in the 2018-19 bulletin for a table of all the proceedings and convictions under this act by year.
10.12 Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 – Part 1 (Police powers)
The Criminal Justice (Scotland) 2016 Act - Part I (Police powers) came into force on 25 January 2018. The provisions, amongst other matters, transferred written undertaking provisions from the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1995 to Part I of the 2016 Act.
10.13 Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016
Sections 79-81 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 (“the 2016 Act”) made significant changes to the sheriff and jury procedures contained in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, and were introduced over three dates during the period May to August 2017. This may have fed through to average sentence lengths because it allowed sentence discounts for early guilty pleas.
10.14 Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016
The Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 introduced a new statutory aggravation for domestic abuse which came into force in April 2017. This act also introduced the Threatening to or disclosing intimate images offences (often known as “revenge porn”).
10.15 Reduction in the alcohol limit for drivers
On 5 December 2014 the alcohol limit for drivers in Scotland was reduced from 80 mg to 50 mg per 100 ml blood.
10.16 Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009
On 1 December 2010 the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 came into effect. This introduced or repealed a range of sexual offences.