Statistics on guilty pleas and criminal charges that proceeded to court: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002


Information requested

1. The number of guilty pleas made by the accused of any criminal charge that proceeded to court for the financial years of 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and so far in 2021-22.

2. The percentage of all criminal charges that proceeded to court where the accused pleaded guilty for the financial years of 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and so far in 2021-22.

Response

Whilst we don't hold the specific data to answer your question, we are able to provide the following information which relates to a sub-set of criminal accused.

Number of guilty pleas at different diet stages of accused in summary complaints

 

Guilty Plea at 1st Calling

Guilty Plea at Intermediate Diet

Guilty Plea at Trial Diet

Financial Year

N

%

N

%

N

%

2014-15

45,085

32%

14,498

11%

16,459

23%

2015-16

38,150

30%

13,948

10%

18,900

24%

2016-17

33,951

30%

13,042

11%

19,124

26%

2017-18

29,880

28%

11,386

11%

18,351

26%

2018-19

28,849

29%

10,735

11%

16,525

27%

2019-20

28,560

28%

10,561

11%

15,466

28%

2020-21

12,911

19%

5,136

6%

5,615

18%

Apr 2021- to Nov 21

11,026

21%

5,230

7%

8,405

22%

Source: Criminal Justice Board Management Information System
Notes:
1 - These figures are for summary procedures only.
2 - Figures in 2020 and 2021 cover periods when courts were closed due to COVID lockdowns.
3 - Periods of court closure due to COVID lockdowns caused a backlog in court cases to grow. It is likely that the case mix of complaints proceeding through different stages of the court process has not yet returned to pre COVID norms and therefore comparisons should be avoided.

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 because we can only provide what is supplied to us for the purposes of updating the Criminal Justice Board Management Information System.

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.

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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