Recorded crime statistics in relation to child sexual abuse: FOI release

Information requested

With respect to recorded crime statistics Scotland in relation to Child Sexual Abuse:

1) Statistics regarding the number of prosecutions and conviction rates of those recorded crimes.

2) The specific crime codes used to record sexual crimes where crimes were committed prior to implementation of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.

3) The ages of the victims of the recorded crime, and also where there were convictions and prosecutions in those cases.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in the response and tables below.

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. The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below.

Statistics on crimes recorded by the police in Scotland are published quarterly and annually as Recorded crime in Scotland. The most recent annual publication is for 2024-25 and the most recent quarterly publication (up to end June 2025) was published on 26 August. Tables A4 and A5 in the supporting documents of the annual publication include some breakdowns of Sexual crime by victim age. Statistics on people prosecuted and convicted in Scottish courts are published annually as Criminal Proceedings in Scotland. The most recent publication is for 2022-23 and covers the tenyear period from 2013-14 to 2022-23. Currently there is no breakdown of Sexual crimes by victim age included in the bulletin. The next publication, covering the ten-year span from 2014-15 to 2023-24, is due out later this year.

These two sets of statistics are based on separate and distinct data sets. They count different things (crimes versus people) at different times (date a crime was recorded versus date a case concludes in court) in fundamentally different ways and cannot be linked. Please consult the links above for more details on how these statistics are produced. It is therefore not possible to answer parts 1) and 3) of your request as asked as there is no meaningful way to link these data sets.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have this part of the information you have requested.

However, in an effort to be as helpful as possible, we have provided below data from Criminal Proceedings in Scotland on people prosecuted and convicted in Scottish courts where the main charge could be interpreted as a child sexual offence. The main charge is the one that conferred the most severe penalty. Note that there is no single crime of child sexual abuse nor is there a single definition of what may be defined as child sexual abuse that can be applied consistently across data sets. Furthermore, neither Recorded Crime in Scotland nor Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics hold data on victims. As such we cannot directly know the age(s) of any victim(s) at the time any offence(s) occurred. Therefore, we have provided data only where a child victim is explicitly defined by the legislation referred to in the charge. For more recent crimes these are mainly charges that fall under Part 4 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, but some other offences are also included. For example, where possible we include the crimes used to define "Sexual crimes with a victim under 18" in Section 17.3 at the link: 17. Definitions - User Guide to Recorded Crime Statistics in Scotland - gov.scot. In addition we intentionally exclude crimes of Indecent photos of children. The reasons for this are discussed in more detail below.

Note that this definition does not allow us to provide exact age(s) of victims, rather they will be in the age band as defined by that legislation. Since multiple pieces of legislation are referred to and these vary in their definitions of a child (or sub definitions of younger or older children) these include overlapping age bands. In practice these are: a person under 13, a person aged 13-15, a person aged under 16 and a person aged under 18. In addition, we cannot always guarantee that there was a child victim for a particular offence. For some charges it is possible that, for example, in an exclusively online interaction a person may only believe they are talking to a child when in fact they are communicating with an adult decoy. This belief alone can be enough to secure a conviction. For a real example of this outcome see this sentencing statement: https://www.judiciary.scot/home/sentences-judgments/sentences-andopinions/2025/06/19/hma-v-donald-robert-kennedy.

For this definition we also exclude the only Sexual crime category that explicitly mentions children: Indecent photos of children. This is because possession and distribution alone are sufficient to secure a conviction for this offence as well as it including the making of pseudo-photographs. A pseudophotograph is defined as, “an image, whether produced by computer-graphics or otherwise howsoever, which appears to be a photograph." In other words, there is no explicit requirement for crimes under this category to have a victim at all. However, if you wish to know the numbers of recorded crimes or people prosecuted or convicted for this category (and any sentences they received) these are already available to you in the publications mentioned above.

Recorded crimes of Indecent photos of children are available from Recorded crime in Scotland. People prosecuted or convicted of a main charge of Indecent photos of children are available from Criminal Proceedings in Scotland. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

As a final consideration in interpreting this data please be aware that crimes which appear in a specific year in both Recorded Crime in Scotland or Criminal Proceedings in Scotland may have occurred in an earlier year. In some cases these may be substantially earlier, although neither publication includes data on when any offence(s) occurred. Recorded Crime in Scotland counts crimes in the year in which they were recorded by police. Criminal Proceedings in Scotland counts people in the financial year in which they were sentenced (if convicted) or in which a verdict was rendered (if acquitted). For most types of crimes these may be in either the same year a crime occurred or a year or two earlier. (For example, to allow a case to pass through court.) However, sexual crimes are known to more commonly include historic reporting. This is defined as reporting a crime over a year after it occurred. In some child sex abuse cases a victim may not report any crime(s) until after they have reached adulthood. This means some prosecutions may substantially postdate the crimes themselves. For a real world example see the sentencing statement of Judge Andrew Miller from June of this year which covered crimes committed between 1985 and 1994: HMA v Edward Stanton. Given that some crimes go unreported, or have not been reported yet, this means neither the data presented in Recorded Crime in Scotland nor Criminal Proceedings in Scotland may reliably be used as an indication of a child sexual victimisation rate.

In specific response to your request:

1) For the reasons stated above we cannot answer this question as asked, but in Table 1 below provide people prosecuted and convicted of a main charge of child sexual abuse (as defined above). We also show the conviction rates for these crimes. Here a conviction rate is calculated as the number of people convicted divided by the number of people prosecuted.

2) A list of crime codes repealed by the implementation of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 (SOSA) on 1 December 2010 is given below. Note that these crimes may still be recorded by police and prosecuted in court as they are still applicable to any offence that occurred prior to 1 December 2010.

• Assault with Intent to Rape/Attempted Rape (15/000)
• Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 3 - Person with custody or care of girl or other causing her seduction (18/008)
• Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 5(1) - Sexual Intercourse with girl under 13 (18/002)
• Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 5(3) - Sexual Intercourse with girl under 16 (18/003)
• Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 6 - Lewd, Indecent and Libidinous Practices (18/022)
• Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 13 - Homosexual Acts (Illegal) (13/001)
• Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 13 - Procuration of Homosexual Acts (18/012)
• Lewd, Indecent and Libidinous Practices (Common Law) (18/022)
• Rape (Common Law) (14/000)
• Sodomy/Attempted Sodomy (13/001)

Other sexual crime codes, including those that existed prior to SOSA and are still valid, are specified in the Scottish Crime Recording Standard available at:

Scottish Crime Recording Standard: Crime Recording and Counting Rules - gov.scot

3) For the reasons stated above we do not know the exact age of any victim(s) nor can we always guarantee there was a child victim due to some crimes potentially involving an adult decoy. However, in Tables 2 and 3 below we provide the numbers of people prosecuted and convicted by the age of the victim (or perceived age of an adult decoy) as specified in the legislation under which the main charge falls.

Table 1 People prosecuted and convicted in Scottish courts where the main charge1 was a child sexual offence (as defined above), 2013-14 to 2022-23

	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-212	2021-222	2022-232
Total prosecuted	271	291	367	294	308	332	355	252	344	347
Total convicted	202	215	276	222	225	253	283	211	284	285
Conviction rate (%)	75%	74%	75%	76%	73%	76%	80%	84%	83%	82%

Table 2 People prosecuted in Scottish courts where the main charge1 was a child sexual offence (as defined above), by victim age or believed age of adult decoy at time of offence (as defined by legislation), 2013-14 to 2022-23

Victim age	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-212	2021-222	2022-232
Under 13	66	102	109	100	103	114	115	75	108	134
13-15	119	109	170	113	125	136	168	138	163	155
Under 163	83	78	84	79	77	79	69	38	62	56
Under 183	3	2	4	2	3	3	3	1	11	2

Table 3 People convicted in Scottish courts where the main charge1 was a child sexual offence (as defined above), by victim age or believed age of adult decoy at time of offence (as defined by legislation), 2013-14 to 2022-23

Victim age	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-212	2021-222	2022-232
Under 13	49	73	80	75	77	80	84	64	87	112
13-15	99	89	139	92	99	120	146	122	145	131
Under 163	52	51	54	53	46	51	51	25	45	40
Under 183	2	2	3	2	3	2	2	.	7	2

1. The main charge is the one conferring the most severe penalty.
2. Data from 2020-21 onwards were affected by the pandemic, including: court closures, reduced court capacities due to physical distancing measures, delays to cases where key participants were forced to self-isolate following positive COVID tests and shifts in case priorities to deal with court backlogs. These should not be considered indicative of longer term trends.
3. These age bands are separate to (and do not include) the younger bands. For example, prosecuted people counted as Under 16 do not include those people counted as Under 13 or 13-15.

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