Criminal proceedings under Section 315 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003: FOI release

Information requested

Criminal proceedings under Section 315 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 since the Act came into being in 2003:
1. How many cases have gone to court under section 315 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003?
2. How many of the cases going to court resulted in a conviction?
3. How many of the cases going to court involved psychological harm as part of the 'ill-treatment and wilful neglect'?

Response

The answer to questions 1 & 2 is provided in the following table:

Number of people prosecuted under section 315 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Scotland Act 2003 (1), since 2003, by result

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
Total Prosecuted	1	1	2	1	3	8	4	4	8	4	5	4
Total Convicted	1	0	2	1	2	4	1	3	4	3	5	2

(1) Where main charge
Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. We cannot answer question 3 as we do not hold that level of detail on charges.
Our statistics are presented on the number of people proceeded against in Scottish courts rather than number of cases prosecuted. Further information is available from our Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2018-19 bulletin which can be viewed here https://www.gov.scot/publications/criminalproceedings-scotland-2018-19/.

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