Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: 2023-2024

8. Community sentences

(Tables 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 8c and 11)

Community sentence types

Community sentence is a collective term for sentences given by courts that are served in the community, often as an alternative to a custodial sentence. Community Payback Orders are the most widely used community sentence. These can include requirements such as unpaid work or other activity requirements, being supervised by a social worker, or programme requirements. Other community sentences are Drug Treatment and Testing Orders and Restriction of Liberty Orders. There are a wide range of options available to the Scottish courts, which are listed in Annex D.

High-level summary

Of the 15,870 community sentences issued in 2023-24:

• 12,132 were Community Payback Orders (76%)
• 3,468 were Restriction of Liberty Orders (22%)
• 264 were Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (2%)

Year-on-year change

Between 2022-23 and 2023-24:

• all community sentences decreased by 2% to 15,870
• Community Payback Orders decreased by 3%
• Restriction of Liberty Orders increased by 4%
• Drug Treatment and Testing Orders decreased by 3%

Change over the 10-year span

Between 2014-15 and 2023-24:

• all community sentences decreased by 15%
• the proportion of convicted people given a community sentence increased from 24% to 25%, the highest proportion in the 10-year span
• Restriction of Liberty Orders increased from 1,174 to 3,468, up 195% and the only type of community sentence to increase over the 10-year span (Chart 13)

Chart 13. Over the longer term, community sentences have declined except for Restriction of Liberty Orders, which have steadily increased.

People issued community sentences in Scottish criminal courts, by community sentence type, 2014-15 to 2023-24.

Breakdown by offence type

In 2023-24:

• 39% of sentences for Non-sexual crimes of violence were community sentences
• 53% of sentences for Sexual crimes were community sentences
• the most common offence types to be given a community sentences were Common assault (3,057 or 19% of all community sentences), Threatening and abusive behaviour (2,623 or 17%) and Crimes against public justice (2,176 or 14%)
• offences where community sentences were the most common main penalty were Communicating indecently (75% of convicted people), Indecent photos of children (73%) and Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (60%)

Breakdown by sex

In 2023-24:

• males accounted for 85% (13,544) of all community sentences
• the number of community sentences was 13% lower than in 2014-15 for males and 24% lower for females