Coronavirus (COVID-19): Justice Analytical Services Data Report - September 2021
Monthly data report on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the justice system in Scotland, including information from Police Scotland, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, and Scottish Prison Service.
Criminal Registered & Scheduled Trials
Since the initial lockdown in March 2020, there have been 119,291 criminal registrations in the courts. 577 of these registrations have been COVID-19 related (0.5%).
In September 2021, all types of court registration except Sheriff Solemn indictments remained lower than 2019-20 averages. Sheriff court indictments were 6% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
| Cases Registered | 19-20 monthly average | September 2021 | Change from 19-20 monthly average |
Outstanding trials March 2020 | Outstanding trials September 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indictments | |||||
| High Court | 85 | 57 | -28 (-33%) | 390 | 519 |
| Sheriff Court | 454 | 481 | 27 (6%) | 497 | 1,842 |
| Complaints | |||||
| Sheriff Court | 5,458 | 4,453 | -1,005 (-18%) | 13,971 | 32,433 |
| JP Court | 2,799 | 2,133 | -666 (-24%) | 3,497 | 7,890 |
At the end of September 2021 there were 42,684 trials outstanding. This compares to 18,355 at the end of 2019-20. In addition, SCTS have forecast that there are another 1,920 cases in the system, mostly solemn, which are likely to come to trial but have not yet had a trial date set (see SCTS published monthly criminal statistics for more detail - https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/official-statistics).
Contact
Email: justice_analysts@gov.scot
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