Reconviction Rates in Scotland: 2022 to 2023 Offender Cohort

Repeat non-court disposals

This section provides statistics on the repeat numbers of non-court disposals for individuals within a year after they were given an initial non-court disposal. This section does not include convictions and reconvictions dealt with in court, as the non-court dataset is independent of the court convictions dataset.

The cohort for non-court disposals is defined as the group of people who receive a non-court disposal, such as a fine or warning, from the police or COPFS in a given financial year. More details on repeat non-court disposals are in the Criminal justice user guide.

Figure 6: Offenders given a non-court police disposal were more likely to have a repeat non-court disposal than those with COPFS disposals

Repeat non-court disposal rates in Scotland by disposal, 2008 to 2009 to 2022 to 2023

Police disposals

Of all the offenders given a Police disposal in 2022 to 2023, 17.3% were given a repeat non-court disposal within 12 months.

Anti-social Behaviour Fixed Penalty Notices (ASBFPNs) are typically given for offences like drunken behaviour and playing loud music.

The repeat non-court disposal rate for people given ASBFPNs was 19.3% for the 2022​​​​​​​ to 2023 cohort, compared with 18.1% for the 2021​​​​​​​ to 2022 cohort. The average number of repeat non-court disposals per individual for people given ASBFPNs was 0.30 in 2022​​​​​​​ to 2023 compared with 0.27 in 2021​​​​​​​ to 2022.

Recorded Police Warnings (RPWs) are given for minor offences where a warning letter is issued to the individual. RPWs replaced Formal Adult Warnings in January 2016.

The repeat non-court disposal rate for RPWs was 15.6% for the 2022​​​​​​​ to 2023 cohort, up from 14.7% the previous year. The average number of repeat non-court disposals per individual was 0.21.

Actions which are used specifically for juveniles (aged 8 to 17) are Restorative Justice Warnings and Early and Effective Interventions (EEIs).

There were 3,719 EEIs and 250 restorative justice warnings given to the 2022​​​​​​​ to 2023 cohort of offenders. The repeat non-court disposal rate for EEIs was 23.2% for the 2022​​​​​​​ to 2023 cohort, a small decrease from 24.9% for the 2021​​​​​​​ to 2022 cohort. The average number of repeat non-court disposals per individual with an EEI decreased by 12.4% from 0.46 in 2021​​​​​​​ to 2022 to 0.40 in 2022​​​​​​​ to 2023.

There are further options available to the police that we are not able to provide data on, such as conditional offers of a fixed penalty notice for motor vehicle offences. Also note that fixed penalty notices for Covid restriction offences are not included in this publication. More information is available in the Criminal justice user guide.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)

The repeat non-court disposal rate for all COPFS disposals was 11.9% for the 2022​​​​​​​ to 2023 cohort.

There were 8,943 individuals given a fiscal fine in 2022​​​​​​​ to 2023. Of these, 19.4% were given a further non-court disposal in the following 12 months. The average number of repeat non-court disposals per individual with a fiscal fine was 0.26.

There were 11,048 individuals given a fiscal fixed penalty, which are fines between £50 and £300, generally issued for motor vehicle offences. Of these, 4.2% were given a further non-court disposal within 12 months.

Repeat non-court disposals by age and sex

Males made up 74% of the 2022​​​​​​​ to 2023 cohort of people given non-court disposals. 15.1% of males and 13.3% of females in this cohort had a further non-court disposal in the following year.

Those aged under 21 had a 19.3% repeat non-court disposal rate, the highest of all age groups. The lowest repeat non-court disposal rate was for those aged over 40, where 11.2% had a repeat non-court disposal in 12 months.