Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24: Main findings

Public perceptions of the Scottish criminal justice system

What did the public think about the criminal justice system in Scotland?

Three quarters (75%) of adults said they know nothing or not very much about the criminal justice system, consistent with previous years. Only 3% reported knowing a lot.

Despite low self-reported knowledge, most respondents expressed confidence in the system’s performance for most measures. However, all questions show either similar or decreasing confidence since 2021/22, and more than half of the measures show decreasing confidence since 2019/20. For example:

• 73% were confident the system provides fair trials, decreasing from 77% in 2019/20
• 69% believed everyone can access the criminal justice system if needed, decreasing from 75% in 2019/20
• 57% were confident that the criminal justice system was effective in bringing people who commit crimes to justice, decreasing from 61% in 2019/20
• 51% felt that the criminal justice system provides victims of crime with the services and support they need, remaining at a similar level to 2019/20

However, two measures had lower levels of confidence:

• 36% were confident that the criminal justice system gives sentences which fit the crime. This is unchanged from 2019/20, although it is lower than the 2021/22 estimate (41%)
• 35% were confident that it deals with cases promptly and efficiently, decreasing from 2021/22

A significant proportion of respondents answered "don't know" to some questions, highlighting ongoing gaps in public understanding.

For a full breakdown of trends over time, see Annex Table A16.

Figure 8.1: The majority of adults were either very or fairly confident about the delivery of the criminal justice system across a range of considerations.

Confidence in the operation of the criminal justice system.

Variables: QDCONF_01 – QDCONF_15.

The level of confidence that everyone has access to the justice system if they need it was adopted as a National Indicator in the Scottish Government’s refreshed National Performance Framework in 2018.