Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: April 2024
This report contains summary statistics covering a number of important justice and safer communities areas. It is published with up to date statistics every month.
Criminal & Civil Proceedings
Summary statistics on criminal and civil proceedings
- COVID-19 continued to impact prosecutions and convictions in 2021-22. The number of people convicted in Scottish courts rose by 39% from 2020-21 to 59,295, but remain below a typical pre-pandemic year.
- Rise in convictions across all groups between 2020-21 and 2021-22. Convictions for Sexual crimes rose by 52% and are the only group to exceed their pre-pandemic (2019-20) level. Road traffic offences rose the most proportionally (up 76%) and Crimes of dishonesty the least (up 7%). Convictions for crimes under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act increased by 81% (689 convictions) in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21 (381 convictions).
- Rise in numbers of community sentences issued and new high in proportion of sentences in 2021-22. The number of community sentences in court rose by 45% between 2020-21 and 2021-22, from 9,783 to 14,160, in line with the overall rise in convictions. The proportion of all convictions resulting in a community sentence rose to 24%, the highest in the past decade.
- Average custodial sentence exceeds one year. For those who are convicted in court and sentenced to custody, the average sentence in 2021-22 was over twelve months (376 days) in length. This was 14% longer than in 2020-21, and 32% longer than in 2012-13 (284 days). The proportion of people receiving a sentence of less than one year fell by two percentage points to 73% in 2021-22, the lowest proportion of the last decade.
The 2020-21 and 2021-22 data reflect the impact of Covid-19 across the justice system, and should not be interpreted as indicative of longer term trends.
- Community payback orders slightly more likely to have unpaid work than supervision. There were 14,700 community payback orders imposed in 2022-23. This was 20% higher than in 2021-22 but still 13% lower than in 2019-20. For the first time since 2019-20, more orders were issued with unpaid work or other activity requirements (68%) than offender supervision requirements (67%).This reflected decreased Covid-19 restrictions during 2022-23, meaning it was less difficult for unpaid work to be carried out.
- Covid-19 impacted the reconviction rates for the 2019-20 cohort. The reconviction rate decreased across almost all categories. The overall reconviction rate was 24.1% in 2019-20, which is a 4.5 percentage point decrease from 28.6% in 2018-19. The data from the 2019-20 cohort mainly reflects the impact of COVID-19 across the justice system, and should not be interpreted as indicative of longer term trends.
- Prior to COVID-19 affected data, the average number of reconvictions per offender has decreased over time. The average number of reconvictions per offender was 8% lower in 2018-19 compared to 2009-10. The fall in the longer term was driven by younger age groups, with average reconvictions decreasing by 9% for under 21s, 16% for 21-25 year olds, and 13% for 26-30 year olds. In contrast, average reconvictions increased for the older age groups over the decade, with increases of 9% for 31-40 year olds and 7% for those aged over 40.
- No. of children referred to SCRA on offence grounds down by five per cent in last 10 years. Statistics published by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) show that, in 2022-23, 2,637 children were referred to the Reporter on offence grounds. This constitutes a decrease of 5% since 2013-14.
- The most recent ten years show a general downward trend in initiated cases, though the latest figures show some recovery from 2020-21. There were 53,866 civil law cases initiated across the Court of Session and sheriff courts in 2021-22 (excluding summary applications). This represents an increase of 23% from 2020-21.
- Most case types increased since 2020-21, except damages which fell marginally. The highest increases were in repossessions (up 1,204%) and evictions (up 200%). The increase in repossessions follows a large Covid-related fall in 2020-21 to a record low. The increase in initiations in 2021-22 brings numbers closer to the pre-pandemic levels but still 46% lower than in 2019-20. Evictions too are still substantially lower than pre-pandemic levels (84% down on 2019-20). Personal injury (up 12%) and family (up by 17%) recorded the lowest increases. Damages saw a 4% decrease from 2020-21.
Contact
Email: justice_analysts@gov.scot
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