Life sentences published as part of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics 2020-21: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the raw data behind that comprised of the experimental statistics behind Table A of the mean punishment part of life sentences published as part of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics 2020-21.

Response

The answer to your question is listed in the table below. There were 11 life sentences for murder convictions included in this analysis; figures are shown for the number of years given for each sentence.

18 years

18 years

18 years

16.3 years

23 years

20.2 years

16.2 years

18 years

22 years

19 years

18 years

Please note the figures are based on data from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) information management system, rather than the other figures in the Criminal Proceedings publication which are based on data from the Criminal History System.

Note that the numbers of life sentences in the SCTS data are slightly different to numbers published elsewhere in the Criminal Proceedings bulletin. The 2020-21 Criminal Proceedings bulletin notes there were 14 life sentences issued for murder convictions, 11 of which were counted in the Punishment Part analysis paper. To avoid confusion, we only present the average sentence lengths in the Punishment Part of Life Sentences analysis, and not the number of sentences they are based on. The discrepancy in numbers is due to the dates used in the different data sets, so records may be in different years. Criminal Proceedings data goes by the date that a person was sentenced after sentencing reports, whereas the SCTS data goes by the date that a verdict was reached in court.

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