The Sentenced Population

The Legal status section has shown that the sentenced population (comprising those untried and those convicted awaiting sentence[i]) has grown from 2023-24. In this section we examine the (alleged) offence characteristics of that population, their index sentences and the presence of statutory throughcare orders.

Later chapters of this report discuss the average daily populations of Women in Custody and Young People in Custody. Further information on other age groups, as well as information on other characteristics (ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, nationality) is available in the Supplementary tables M1 accompanying this release.

Further exploration of these data can be conducted through the interactive analytical tool at https://scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-prison-population-statistics/.

Index offence groups

[Supplementary Tables M2]

This section examines the index offence groups of the (average daily) sentenced  population. A more detailed discussion of the offence categories within these groups is provided in the section Sentenced index offence details.

Figure 13: The sentenced population is increasingly dominated by those with index offences in Group 1 (non-sexual crimes of violence) and Group 2 (sexual crimes), comprising over 70% of the sentenced population in 2024-25

Average daily sentenced populations by index offence group, 2009-10 to 2024-25

The 5.8% increase in the sentenced population between 2023-24 and 2024-25 is not distributed evenly across offence groups. The largest volume change is in the population with index offences in Group 2: Sexual Crimes which increased from 1,418 to 1,614 (+196, +14%). This is more than the previous year’s increase of 165.

The populations with index offences in Group 1: Non-sexual Crimes of Violence (+1% from 2,815 in 2019-20 to 2,848) and Group 2: Sexual Crimes (+52% from 1,065 in 2019-20 to 1,614 respectively) both now exceeded pre-pandemic levels in 2024-25.

The sentenced population with index offences in Group 3: Crimes of Dishonesty, Group 4: Damage & reckless behaviour and Group 5: Crimes against society grew slightly from the previous year (+1%, +9% and +4% respectively) but remain well below pre-pandemic population levels. Together these index offence groups comprised around 20% of the sentenced population in 2024-25 (1,246 ADP), down from 29% in 2019-20. The largest of the three, Group 5: Crimes against society, is the third largest sentenced index offence group by population, and has grown from 792 in 2023-24 to 824 in 2024-25.

The population with index Group 6: Antisocial offences increased by 19% from 177 in 2023-24 to 211 in 2024-25. It remains a relatively small share of the overall sentenced population (3%).

The changes occurring within the index offence groups continue to change the overall offence profile of the prison population. There is a consistently large (average daily) population with index offences in Group 1 and a growing population with index offences in Group 2. Over the same period, there has been an overall decline in the average daily population with index offences in groups 3 and 5. This has led to a sentenced population increasingly comprised of those with index violent and sexual crimes. Together, those with index offences in Groups 1 and 2 exceeded 70% of the sentenced population in 2024-25 (+11 percentage points from 2019-20).

Index sentences

[Supplementary Tables M3]

The index sentence is the longest single sentence being served in each occupancy period[ii]. Where a person in prison has multiple custodial sentences, the overall sentence length cannot be calculated from the available data. This is due to a lack of information as to whether multiple custodial sentences are to be served consecutively or concurrently. Where an individual is given multiple sentences to be served consecutively (a common occurrence with multiple short sentences), their overall sentence length will be longer than the index sentence.

An occasional paper exploring the use of short custodial disposals and the prison population is available on the Scottish Government website[iv].

The overall size of the (average daily) sentenced population increased by 5.8% in 2024-25. Figure 14 shows this pattern was not observed equally across all index sentence bands. The population serving life sentences increased only slightly, while other indeterminate sentences and those on recall decreased by a small amount.

For clarity of presentation, the range of shorter sentence bands presented in the supplementary tables and in the interactive analysis tool[iii] have been combined in the charts in this section into the ‘≤ 1 year’ group.

The (average daily) population serving index sentences of one year or less and those with index sentences of 10+ years increased by the greatest proportion. The shortest index sentence population increased 15% from 954 in 2023-24 to 1,099 in 2024-25. Those with index sentences of ten or more years also increased 15%, from 342 in 2023-24 to 393 in 2024-25.

Figure 14: There were increases in all determinate sentenced and life sentence groups in 2024-25, with the largest increases occurring in the groups serving short (≤1 year) and long (4-10 year) determinate sentences

Average daily populations by banded index sentence, 2009-10 to 2024-25

The life sentenced population increased slightly for the first time since 2020-21, from 926 in 2023-24 to 940 in 2024-25 (+1%).

The one to four year index sentence population increased by 4% overall.

Those with longer index sentences (4-10 years) increased slightly slower than the sentenced population as a whole (+106, +6%), but remain the largest single group at 30% of the sentenced population (ADP 1,781).

Statutory throughcare orders

[Supplementary Tables P1]

On an average day in 2024-25, around 5% of people (301) in custody were serving one or more sentences with a Supervised Release Order[v] (SRO) and around 14% had an extended sentence[vi] (860).

As shown in Figure 15, the average daily prison population with an SRO flag fell sharply between 2019-20 and 2020-21, having already declined slowly from 2015-16. The population increased to 270 in 2022-23, and has continued to grow to 301 in 2024-25. The proportion of the sentenced population with such conditions attached to their sentence(s) has remained relatively stable over time, varying between 4.0 and 5.5% over the past ten years.

Figure 15: The average daily population with an extended sentence has steadily increased from 2018-19. The average daily population with an SRO fell during the pandemic but has grown more recently.

Average daily population of people with extended sentence and Supervised Release Order (SRO) flags, 2009-10 to 2024-25

For extended sentences, the absolute numbers and the proportionate share of the population have increased over time. The proportion with an extended sentence was between 7 and 8.5% from 2009-10 to 2019-20 (541) and has increased steadily since, reaching 12.6% (860) in 2024-25.

More information on these sentence types in provided in the section Statutory throughcare departures.

Sentenced index offence details

[Supplementary Tables M2]

This section provides detailed breakdowns of Index offence groups from Figure 13 into index offence categories for the average daily sentenced population[vii]. The 50 index offence categories provide details of the offence profile of the prison population. This method of classification allows presentation of a summary offence profile, but does not indicate where multiple offences are present, nor does it provide charge level data.

Group 1 – Non-sexual crimes of violence

The (average daily) sentenced population with Group 1 index offences increased by just 2% from 2,784 in 2023-24 to 2,848 in 2024-25. People with index offences in this group comprised 45% of the sentenced population.

The largest offence category in Group 1 is ‘Serious assault and attempted murder’. The sentenced population with this index offence was 1,184 in 2024-25, an increase of 40 from 2023-24 (+4% from 1,144). This offence category accounts for 19% of the sentenced population overall – the largest single category in the sentenced population.

‘Common Assault’ increased by 22 from the previous year to 589 on an average day in 2024-25 (compared to 567 in 2023-24), and is the second largest category in Group 1. This category remains lower than pre-pandemic levels (612 in 2019-20).

The population with an index offence of ‘Murder and culpable homicide’ remained stable. On an average day in 2024-25 it was 572, compared to 573 and 574 in 2022-23 and 2023-24 respectively.

There was a 6% reduction in the sentenced population with the index offence of ‘Robbery’, from 298 in 2023-24 to 281 in 2024-25. This continues a longer term downward trend in the size of this group from 2019-20 when it was 429.

The largest proportionate growth in group 1 was a 21% increase in the sentenced population with an index ‘Domestic Abuse Act’ offence, from 103 in 2023-24 to 125 in 2024-25. Offences in this category are only those covered by the 2018 Act[viii] and therefore do not cover the totality of domestic abuse related offences in the prison population.

Group 2 – Sexual crimes

The (average daily) sentenced population with Group 2 index offences increased 14% from 1,418 in 2023-24 to 1,614 in 2024-25. People with index offences in this group comprised 25% of the sentenced population.

In line with the previously observed rising trend[ix], the sentenced population with an index offence of ‘Rape and attempted rape’ increased between 2023-24 and 2024-25. This population rose by 15% from around 1,007 in 2023-24 to 1,154 on an average day in 2024-25, and remains the largest population category in Group 2. This offence categories accounts for 18% of the sentenced population overall.

The second largest category in 2024-25 were those serving sentences for an index offence of ‘Sexual assault’, which increased 10% from 249 in 2023-24 to 274.

The third largest category in group 2 were those serving sentences for index offences of ‘Indecent photos of children’, which increased from 67 in 2023-24 to 76 in 2024-25.

Increases were observed in all other categories of sexual crime, which together accounted for 110 people on an average day in 2024-25 (+15 from 2023-24).

Group 3 – Crimes of dishonesty

The (average daily) sentenced population with Group 3 index offences increased by just 1% from 328 in 2023-24 to 332 in 2024-25. This group comprised 5% of the sentenced population.

The largest category ‘Housebreaking’ saw a small decrease from 137 in 2023-24 to around 130 in 2024-25 (-5%).

The population serving sentences for an index offence of ‘Shoplifting’ – the second largest category in this group – increased from 62 to 71. The third largest category, ‘Fraud’, increased by 5 to 39 in 2024-25 and ‘Theft of a motor vehicle’ increased by 6 to 30.

The numbers in other categories fell overall in 2024-25, accounting for 62 people on an average day in 2024-25 (-9 from 2023-24).

Group 4 – Damage and reckless behaviour

The (average daily) sentenced population with Group 4 index offences increased from 82 in 2023-24 to 89 in 2024-25. This group comprised just a small proportion (around 1%) of the sentenced population in 2024-25.

There were small increases in the population with an index offence of ‘Fire-raising’ (+7 to 55) and ‘Reckless conduct’ (+1 to 18) in 2024-25, while the population with an index offence of ‘Vandalism’ fell slightly (-1 to 16).

Group 5 – Crimes against society

The (average daily) sentenced population with Group 5 index offences increased 4% from 792 in 2023-24 to 824 in 2024-25. This group comprised 13% of the sentenced population.

The largest index offence category in group 5 in 2024-25 was ‘Drugs – Supply’. This population group decreased marginally from 383 in 2023-24 to 379 in 2024-25.

‘Weapons possession (not used)’ was the third largest category in this group, having increased from 170 to 177 (+4%) on an average day in 2024-25.

The largest single year proportionate population increase was in the ‘Other crimes against society’, which increased +42% from 58 to 83 in 2024-25.[x]

Group 6 – Antisocial offences

The (average daily) sentenced population with Group 6 index offences increased 19% from 177 in 2023-24 to 211 in 2024-25. This group comprised just 3% of the sentenced population in this reporting year.

Around 95% of this population group had an index offence of ‘Threatening and abusive behaviour’ (200, +31 in 2024-25). The remainder of this population group had index offences of ‘Racially aggravated conduct’ (6, +3 in 2024-25) and ‘Community and public order offences’ (6, equal to 2023-24).

Group 7 – Miscellaneous offences

The (average daily) sentenced population with Group 7 index offences decreased 5% from 125 in 2023-24 to 119 in 2024-25. This group comprised just 2% of the sentenced population.

In 2023-24, around half of the population with Group 7 index offences had index ‘Licensing offences’ (62), while a further 56 had index ‘Other miscellaneous offences’[xi].

On an average day in 2024-25 there were 2 people with index ‘Wildlife offences’.

Group 8 – Road traffic offences

The (average daily) sentenced population with Group 8 index offences increased 14% from 79 in 2023-24 to 90 in 2024-25. This group comprised just 1% of the sentenced population.

Those with an index offence of ‘Dangerous and careless driving’ made up around two thirds (57, +11 in 2024-25) of this population group . Those with an index offence of ‘Unlawful use of vehicle’ and ‘Driving under the influence’ were more or less unchanged from 2023-24 at 21 and 11 people respectively.