Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 – Reporting Requirement

5. Journey Times data

Section 14(2)(e)

5.1 Journey times for accused with at least one domestic abuse charge under section 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018

The journey times data illustrates the time taken from the offence to verdict for persons accused of criminal charges. The time taken for the accused to progress through the criminal justice system between offence and verdict times will include:

• the time taken for a victim to report an offence to the police and the associated police investigation time;
• COPFS time in processing the reported crime and preparing for court where relevant;
• then finally for the accused whose case progresses to court, the court time in hearing and disposing the case. This stage can involve multiple contributors including: SCTS, COPFS, Police Scotland, defence solicitors, SLAB etc.

The time taken for the accused to progress through the system will be referred to as the ‘journey time’. Here we report only on the court registration to verdict times. However additional information on the median journey time and median times for other stages of the justice system for accused with domestic abuse charges can be found in Journey times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System: 2023-24.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is very apparent in the journey times data. Across all crime groupings and court types, median journey times of accused persons increased in 2021-22 (post pandemic) when compared to 2019-20 (pre-pandemic).

Table 8 below shows median court registration to verdict times i.e. the time taken from servicing the complaint or indictment to the date when the verdict is issued, for accused with at least one DASA 2018 charge on registration by court type.

Across all courts, median journey time from court registration to verdict for accused with charges under DASA 2018 have increased since the Act was implemented in 2019-20 by 60 days to 125 days in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 and then by 91 days to 216 in 2021-22. The increase in journey times may reflect a combination of cases tried on indictment taking longer to enter the system (particularly in view of the lack of jury trials in the early part of the pandemic) and the impact of the pandemic on court journey times and the increase in cases due to this new legislation.

In the High Court, the median journey time from court registration to verdict increased by 126 days to 270 days in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 and then by 95 days to 365 days in 2021-22.

In sheriff solemn proceedings, the median journey time from court registration to verdict increased by 20 days to 52 days in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 and then by 101 days to 153 days in 2021-22.

In sheriff summary proceedings, the median journey time from court registration to verdict increased by 64 days to 130 days in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 and then by 93 days to 223 days in 2021-22.

Source: Journey times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System, 2023-24

Table 8a shows the median court registration to verdict time for accused with at least one DASA 2018 charge on registration by sheriffdom.

In 2021-22, the median court registration to verdict time for accused with at least one DASA 2018 charge on registration, increased in all the sheriffdoms compared to 2019-20 and 2020-21. In 2021-22, Glasgow and Strathkelvin and Lothian and Borders had the highest median court registration to verdict time (246 days), while North Strathclyde showed the lowest (155 days).

Source: Journey times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System, 2023-24 dataset

5.2 Journey times for accused with at least one offence with a statutory domestic abuse aggravation

Table 9 below shows median court registration to verdict times for accused with at least one offence with a statutory domestic abuse aggravation by court type.

Across all courts, median journey time from court registration to verdict for accused with at least one offence with a statutory domestic abuse aggravation have decreased by 5 days in 2020-21 since 2019-20 and increased by 76 days to 135 days in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21.

In the High Court, the median journey time from court registration to verdict increased by 213 days to 380 days in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 and then by 38 days to 418 days in 2021-22.

In sheriff solemn proceedings, the median journey time from court registration to verdict decreased by 17 days to 46 days in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 and then increased by 96 days to 141 days in 2021-22.

In sheriff summary proceedings, the median journey time from court registration to verdict decreased by 5 days to 58 days in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 and then increased by 76 days to 134 days in 2021-22.

In the justice of the peace courts, the median journey time from court registration to verdict decreased by 35 days to 43 days in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 and then increased by 45 days to 88 days in 2021-22.

Source: Journey times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System, 2023-24 dataset

Table 9a shows the median court registration to verdict time for accused with for accused with at least one offence with a statutory domestic abuse aggravation by sheriffdom.

In 2021-22, the median court registration to verdict time for accused with at least one offence with a statutory domestic abuse aggravation, increased in all the sheriffdoms compared to 2020-21. In 2021-22, Glasgow and Strathkelvin (153 days) and Lothian and Borders (193 days) had the highest median court registration to verdict time, while North Strathclyde showed the lowest (87 days).

Source: Journey times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System, 2023-24 dataset