Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: 2023-2024

4. People convicted by court

(Table 3)

Court types

Presently four main types of court deal with criminal cases in Scotland:

• High Court
• Sheriff Solemn Court
• Sheriff Summary Court
• Justice of the Peace Court

The High Court deals with the most serious crimes such as murder, rape and armed robbery. Murder convictions carry a mandatory life sentence and the maximum penalties that may be imposed for other crimes are life imprisonment, an unlimited fine or both. The exact maximum is determined by any limit provided in law for the offence(s) prosecuted. A single judge hears cases with a jury of 15 people. The jury reach a verdict, and if a conviction arises, the judge determines sentence.

Sheriff Courts deal with most cases in Scotland. These can either be solemn, where the Sheriff sits with a jury of 15 people or summary, where the Sheriff sits alone (see Points to note, below). For solemn cases, the jury reaches a verdict and, if a conviction arises, the Sheriff determines sentence. The maximum penalty for solemn cases is five years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine or both. For summary cases, the Sheriff reaches a verdict and, if a conviction arises, determines the sentence. The maximum penalty that may be imposed (in most circumstances, see Points to note, below) is one year’s imprisonment, a £10,000 fine or both.

The Justice of the Peace courts deal with the least serious crimes, such as speeding, shoplifting and certain types of breach of the peace. They are chaired by a Justice of the Peace or “lay magistrate” who has been appointed from the local community and trained in criminal law and procedure. They can impose custodial sentences of up to 60 days and fines up to £2,500.

Change over the 10-year span

Overall, the number of convictions in Scotland has decreased over the 10-year span, but this differs by court type (Chart 5). Between 2014-15 and 2023-24:

• the number of convictions in High court increased from 585 to 796 (up 36%)
• the number of convictions in Sheriff Solemn Courts rose from 5,340 to 6,096 (up 14%)
• the number of convictions in Sheriff Summary Court fell from 59,298 to 44,891 (down 24%)
• the number of convictions in Justice of the Peace Court fell from 41,349 to 11,703
• the proportion of convictions in High Court remained consistently low at around 1%
• the proportion of convictions in Sheriff Solemn Court rose from 5% to 10%
• the proportion of convictions in Sheriff Summary Court rose from 56% to 71%
• the proportion of convictions in Justice of the Peace Court fell from 39% to 18%

Overall, the proportion of more serious convictions (those tried in the High Court and Sheriff Solemn court) has increased while the proportion of less serious crimes (those in the Sheriff Summary and Justice of the Peace Court) has decreased. This change helps to drive the long-term increase in average custodial sentence length. This is discussed in more detail in this year’s Spotlight section.

Chart 5. Over the long term the proportion of convictions made in Justice of the Peace courts has declined, with all other court types proportionally increasing.

Proportion of convictions by court type, 2014-15 to 2023-24.

Points to note

Recording delays are typical for High Court activity due to the complex nature of cases held there. As a result, the total number of High Court convictions for 2023-24 may be underestimated and could be revised upwards in the 2024-25 bulletin. More information is available in the Annex revisions section.

In a Sheriff Solemn court, the jury determines whether an accused is guilty or not and the Sheriff determines sentence. In a Sheriff Summary court, the Sheriff determines both whether an accused is guilty or not and, if guilty, the sentence.

The court can sentence up to an additional six months where there is a bail aggravation on the charge, and Sheriff Court fines can be higher than £10,000 where there is legislative provision for this in relation to a specific offence.