Young people aged 16-17 prosecuted in the criminal courts in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

1. The number of young people aged 16-17 prosecuted in the criminal courts in Scotland for (i) the year 2018/19 and (ii) the year 2019/20.

2. Of those young people aged 16-17 prosecuted in the criminal courts in Scotland for (i) the year 2018/19 and (ii) the year 2019/20, the different categories of crime for which they came before the courts and the respective numbers of alleged offenders per category.

3. Of those young people aged 16-17 prosecuted in the criminal courts in Scotland for (i) the year 2018/19 and (ii) the year 2019/20, the number that had a known speech, language or communication difficulty and / or an Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

4. Of those young people aged 16-17 prosecuted in the criminal courts in Scotland for (i) the year 2018/19 and (ii) the year 2019/20, the number that were found (a) guilty and (b) not guilty. 

5. Of those young people aged 16-17 prosecuted in the criminal courts in Scotland for (i) the year 2018/19 and (ii) the year 2019/20 that were found guilty, the number that were (a) sentenced to a community payback order; (b) received an admonition; (c) subject to a fine; (d) sentenced to a Young Offender's Institution; (e) sentenced to a prison; (f) subject to a Movement Restriction Condition; and / or (g) subject to a different disposal.

6. The number of young people aged 16-17 placed in secure care in Scotland in (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20;

7. The number of young people aged 16-17 detained in Young Offenders Institutions in Scotland in (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20;

8. Of those young people aged 16-17 detained in Young Offenders Institutions in Scotland in (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20, the number that are detained (i) on remand (awaiting trial or sentencing) and (ii) are already sentenced.

9. Of those young people aged 16-17 detained in Young Offenders Institutions in Scotland in (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20 who have been sentenced, the number that are subject to (i) sentences of up to 1 year; (ii) sentences of 1-2 years; (iii) sentences of 2 years or more.

10. Of those young people aged 16-17 detained in Young Offenders Institutions or prisons in Scotland in (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20, the number that are subject to (i) a Child's Plan and (ii) a Coordinated Support Plan.

11. The number of young people aged 16-17 in Scotland that were convicted on indictment under section 208 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 in (i) 2018/19 and (ii) 2019/20. 

12. The number of young people aged 16-17 in Scotland that are currently serving a sentence of detention without limit of time under section 205 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.

13. The number of people who have been sentenced to life imprisonment since 2013 for offences committed when they were under 18.

Questions added on 11/06/2020:
14.1 The number of older children (aged 16-17) prosecuted in Scotland's courts over the past three years, including the numbers that were found guilty / not guilty;

14.2 Remitted to the CHS for disposal; or sentenced to a custodial sentence.

14.3 If possible, it would be useful to know how many of these cases were solemn or summary proceedings and also whether they were dealt with in the JP court, Sheriff Court or High Court.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in the attached excel workbook.

Please note the latest available criminal proceedings statistics are up to and including 2018-19.

Information for 2019-20 will not be available until publication of the 'Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2019-20' statistical bulletin. This is expected to be published towards the end of 2020. The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found online at:
https://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs

Our data is presented on the main charge in a case and a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only the main charge is counted in these court proceedings statistics. People are counted once for each occasion they are proceeded against. If a person is proceeded against more than once on the same day, each proceeding will be counted separately. The reference year used is the year in which the person is sentenced and the age of each person is calculated as at the date of sentence or acquittal. Further information is available from the 'Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2018-19' bulletin available online at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/criminal-proceedings-scotland-2018-19/.

Questions 1, 2, 4 and 14.1 - see table 1 of the attached workbook.

Question 3 - our criminal proceedings database does not hold information on whether a person has a known speech, language or communication difficulty and / or an Autistic Spectrum Disorder.  Colleagues in the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and Scottish Courts & Tribunal Service (SCTS) advise that this kind of information is not something that is held electronically on their case management systems. If the information was held anywhere by either organisation then it would be within case papers however it would require manual interrogation to identify these instances and would likely exceed the monetary cost limit of £600 if you were to submit an information request to them. Their contact details if you wish to approach them are foi@copfs.gov.uk and foi@scotcourts.gov.uk.

Questions 5, 7, 14.2 - see table 2 of the attached workbook.

Question 6 - the information requested can be found in table 3.3 of the Children's social work statistics Scotland 2018-19 (latest publication can be accessed here -
https://www.gov.scot/publications/childrens-social-work-statistics-scotland-2018-2019/ ). Information provided shows the number in secure care as at 31 July of each year. 2019-20 data is planned to be published in March 2021.

Questions 8, 10 and 12 - we do not hold information on people detained or currently serving a sentence.
You may wish to contact the Scottish Prisons Services at gaolinfo@sps.pnn.gov.uk who should be able to assist with your query.

Question 9 - we do not hold information on people detained. Table 3 of the attached workbook provides the length of sentences for those people sentenced to YOIs in 2018-19 for the age group requested.

Question 11 - section 208 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 relates to sentencing decisions and is not information that is contained in our database. You may wish to contact SCTS at foi@scotcourts.gov.uk.

Question 13 - see table 4 of the attached workbook and also note earlier comment re presentation of age in our statistics.

Question 14.3 - see table 5 of the attached workbook.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI-202000041445 Information released

File type

Excel document

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31.5 kB