Sexual offence conviction statistics: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for each year from 2021 to the latest available data:

1. The number of individuals convicted of:

•  Rape offences
•  Other sexual offences
•  All sexual offences combined

2. For each category above, please provide a breakdown by:

•  Sex
•  Age band (Under 18, 18-24, 25-39, 40-59, 60+)

3. For each category above, please provide any recorded breakdown by:

•  British citizen
•  Foreign national
•  Asylum seeker
•  Refugee
•  Visa holder
•  Illegal entrant / undocumented migrant
•  Any other immigration status categories held

4. For each category above, please provide any recorded breakdown by:

•  Nationality
•  Country of birth

5. If immigration status is not held, please confirm:

•  Whether immigration status is recorded anywhere within the criminal justice system;
•  Which public authority holds that information, if known;
•  Whether it can be linked to conviction records.

6. If the requested information is held in any existing report, spreadsheet, database extract or management information report, please provide a copy.

7. Please provide the information in spreadsheet format where possible.

If the full request exceeds the cost limit, please provide:

(a) rape offences only; or

(b) the most recent year available;

whichever allows the request to be processed.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in the format you asked for.

Some of the information you have requested is available from Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics. These statistics summarise offences dealt with by courts, sentencing outcomes and characteristics of convicted offenders. The most recent data are from the 2023-2024 financial year. You can access these statistics at the link above and more specific parts using the links below. 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 website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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.

The Scottish Government publish a range of statistics on crime and justice. As these are distinct types of statistics generated from different data sources they vary in what information is held on offender characteristics. For example, many include breakdowns by age and sex but none include data on a person's immigration status. You may be interested in Scottish Prison Population Statistics 2024-2025, which includes breakdowns by nationality and ethnicity. It should be noted that the sentenced prison population represents only a fraction of all convicted people. For example, in 2023-2024, 16% of convicted people were given a main penalty of a custodial sentence, with the other 84% given a community, financial or other penalty as a sentence.

You may wish to contact other parts of the criminal justice system to ascertain whether they hold data on a person's immigration status. For example, Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service or the Scottish Prison Service.

The data we are able to provide here are all drawn from Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics.

Some important context for these statistics is laid out below.

Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics counts people by main charge. The main charge is the one that conferred the most severe penalty. Charges are classified using a standard crime classification system that is used across criminal justice statistics. This classification is used purely for statistical reporting and has no effect on judicial proceedings. A person's age is their age at sentencing. This may be older than the age they were when any offending took place. Note that this is especially important to consider with respect to Rape and attempted rape as historical reporting - being where a crime is reported over a year after it occurred - is common for this type of crime. Separate statistics on Journey Times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System 2024-25 include information on the date of offending and show almost half (48%) of people whose Rape and attempted rape case concluded in 2024-2025 were historically reported crimes. Finally, data from 2020-2021 onwards are affected by the pandemic. This includes: court closures, reduced court capacities due to social distancing measures, delays to cases where key participants were forced to self-isolate following positive COVID-19 tests and reprioritising of cases to deal with the resulting backlogs. Data from this period should be interpreted with caution.

Responses to your specific requests are laid out below:

1. This information is already available to you in Table 4b of Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2023-2024. Note: Table 4b is part of the main tables available in the Supporting documents.

2. Breakdowns by age, sex and main crime or offence are shown for the most recent year in Tables 6ac of Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2023-2024. Note: Tables 6a-c are part of the main tables available in the Supporting documents. The attached table shows breakdowns for each year from 2020-2021 to 2023-2024 (the most recent available data) using the requested age brackets.

3. We do not hold this data in Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics.

4. We do not hold this data in Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics.

5. The Scottish Government does not hold data centrally on whether individual parts of the criminal justice system hold data on the immigration status of convicted persons.

6. Data that the Scottish government holds have been provided as detailed above.

7. The attached table is in MS Excel format.

About FOI

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

FOI 202600521344 - Information Released - Table

File type

Excel document

File size

17.9 kB