Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: 2023-2024

9. Financial penalties and other sentences

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

Financial penalty and “other” sentence types

The courts can impose financial penalties such as fines, which are enforced by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), or compensation orders, which are collected by the SCTS with the monies then paid to the victim. “Other” sentences are mostly admonishments which are a verbal warning from the sheriff.

Year-on-year change

Between 2022-23 and 2023-24:

• all financial penalties fell by 17% to 25,082 (40% of all disposals)
• fines fell by 18% to 24,326
• compensation orders increased by 4% to 756
• all “other” sentences fell 1% to 12,440

Change over the 10-year span

Between 2014-15 and 2023-24:

• all financial penalties decreased by 56%
• fines decreased by 57%
• compensation orders decreased by 10%
• as a proportion of all sentences, financial penalties decreased from 45% to 40%
• the median fine increased by 50%, from £200 to £300
• all “other” sentences decreased by 28%

Breakdown by offence type

In 2023-24:

• the crimes which attracted the most financial penalties were Unlawful use of vehicle (4,158), Driving under the influence (3,484) and Threatening and abusive behaviour (3,067)
• the crimes which attracted the most admonishments were Crimes against public justice (3,528), Threatening and abusive behaviour (2,801) and Common assault (1,382)

Breakdown by sex

In 2022-23:

• males accounted for 83% (20,776) of all financial penalties
• males accounted for 71% (8,887) of all “other” sentences

Points to note

Longer term trends in sentencing show a shift away from financial penalties towards community sentences. This general declining trend in financial penalties may be due to cases that would have historically attracted a financial penalty now being dealt with by non-court disposals.

The median value is the midpoint of a ranked series of data. It is used so that very high or very low values do not impact excessively on the calculated average.

Please note that compensation orders can be given as an additional punishment to another penalty (e.g. a community sentence). Here the median value is based on either the main or secondary penalty, but the count of compensation orders only refers to where a compensation order was the main penalty.

Year-on-year comparisons for fines and compensation orders are in cash terms and have not been adjusted for inflation.