Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report June 2026

Statistics on criminal proceedings

Number of prosecutions and convictions in 2023-24 both fell 7%, but solemn proceedings, which are more complex and take longer to conclude in court, increased. The number of people convicted in Scottish courts in 2023-24 was 63,486, 7% lower than the 67,966 seen in 2022-23.

Chart 8: Number of people convicted in Scottish courts – 2014-15 to 2023-24

Note: Data from 2020-21 onwards were affected by the Covid pandemic and should not be considered indicative of long term trends.

Rise in convictions for serious crimes between 2022-23 and 2023-24. Convictions for non-sexual crimes of violences rose by 4% and sexual crimes rose by 12%. These include 19% increases in convictions under both the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act (up to 897, a new high) and rape and attempted rape (221, a new all-time high going back to 1989-90).

Rise in proportions of custodial and community sentences in 2023-24. Reflecting the increase in the proportion of more serious offences convicted in 2023-24, the proportion of custodial sentences was 16% (three percentage points higher than in 2022-23). The proportion of community sentences also increased, by one percentage point to 25%, the highest in the 10-year span.

Average custodial sentence increased again to new all-time high. The average custodial sentence length, excluding life and indeterminate sentences, was 393 days in 2023-24. This was 2% higher than in 2022-23 (386 days) and the highest on record (since 1989-90).  New analysis in the 2023-24 bulletin shows this rise is driven by an increasing proportion of more serious offences, which attract longer sentences, and sentence inflation, where longer sentences were given for the same main charge.

Community payback orders slightly higher proportion of unpaid work than supervision. There were 16,500 community payback orders imposed in 2024-25. This was 9% higher than in 2023-24, the fifth highest in ten years. In 2024-25, 69% were issued with an unpaid work requirement, while slightly less (67%) were issued with a supervision requirement.

Chart 9: Community payback orders imposed – percentage of orders with different requirements, 2024-25

* New * Reconviction rates have decreased over the most recent year. The overall reconviction rate for the 2022-2023 cohort was 26.1%, a small decrease from the rate for the 2021-2022 cohort (27.3.)  It is not yet possible to say whether this is a return to the long term decreasing trend in reconviction rates seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

* New *The average number of reconvictions per offender has decreased over time. The average number of reconvictions per offender was 16% lower in 2022-2023 compared to 2013-2014.  The largest decrease in average number of reconvictions was for those aged between 26 and 30, a decrease of 18% since 2013-2014.

Chart 10: Average reconvictions per offender by age, 

Number of children referred to SCRA on offence grounds fell by nine per cent in the last year. Statistics published by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) show that, in 2024-25, 2,447 children were referred to the reporter on offence grounds. This constitutes a fall of 9% from 2023-24 and is 11% lower than in 2015-16.