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Publication - Statistics

Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Quarterly Report: September 2026

Published
24 September 2026
From
Cabinet Secretary for Justice, +4 more … Minister for Victims and Community Safety, Lord Advocate, Chief Statistician, Director-General Education and Justice
Directorate
Safer Communities Directorate, +2 more … Justice Directorate, Children and Families Directorate
Topic
Communities and third sector, Law and order, Public safety and emergencies

This report contains summary statistics covering a number of important justice and safer communities areas. It is updated with the most recently published statistics

Supporting documents

Statistics on criminal justice journey times (police known date to verdict)

  • Median journey times decreased in 2024-25. Median journey times decreased in all court types in 2024-25 when compared to 2023-24. There were decreases of 4% in High Court (from 890 to 858 days), 5% in Sheriff solemn court (from 539 to 510 days), 5% in Sheriff summary court (from 223 to 212 days) and 6% in Justice of the Peace court (from 278 to 261 days).

Chart 11: Median time (in days) from police known to verdict by court type, 2017-18 to 2024-25

Chart 11 - Median time from offence to verdict by type of court, 2017-18 to 2024-25 A line chart of median offence to verdict time for all accused by court type showing that this has decreased during the latest financial year for all types of court.

  • The time associated with different parts of an accused person’s journey in the justice system varies depending on the type of court their case is allocated. As in previous years, the key factor influencing the overall journey time in solemn courts is the time from when the case is reported to COPFS to when it is registered in court. Compared to 2023-24, in 2024-25, median COPFS report to court registration time decreased by 1 day (0%) in High Court and increased by 6 days (2%) in Sheriff solemn court. Compared to 2023-24, in 2024-25, median court registration to verdict time decreased by 4% in High Court (to 10 months) and decreased by 20% to 91 days in Sheriff solemn court. As in previous years, the key factor influencing the overall journey time in Sheriff summary court, is the time from court registration to verdict. In 2024 25 the median court registration to verdict time was around 4 months.

Chart 12: Median time (in days) for stages of the justice process in High court, by financial year, 2017-18 to 2024-25

Chart 12 - Median times - COPFS report to courts registration and courts registration to verdict for High court, 2017-18 to 2024-25 A line chart with median COPFS report to court registration and court registration to verdict times for all accused with verdicts in High Court, showing that median COPFS report to court registration time and median court registration to verdict time remained stable.

Chart 13: Median time (in days) for stages of the justice process in Sheriff summary court, by financial year, 2017-18 to 2024-25

Chart 13 - Median times - COPFS report to courts registration and courts registration to verdict for Sheriff Summary court, 2017-18 to 2024-25 A line chart with median COPFS report to court registration and court registration to verdict times for all accused with verdicts in Sheriff Summary, showing that both median COPFS report to court registration time and median court registration to verdict time remained stable in the latest financial year.

  • There were differences in accused persons’ journey times depending on the type of crime on registration. The longest journey times are for case accused charged with at least one sexual crime and a verdict issued in High court. In 2024-25, the median journey time in these situations was 2 years and 11 months. This is an increase of 2% (22 days) from 2023-24.
  • In the majority of crime types, median journey times decreased in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24. However, there was an increase in median journey times in the latest financial year for: Rape & attempted rape (+4%), Other sexual crimes (+20%), Shoplifting (+1%), Fraud (+2%), Fire-raising (+6%), Vandalism (+4%), Crimes against public justice (+15%) and Other crimes against society (+10%).

 

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