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Publication - Statistics

Sentencing Trends in Scottish Courts, 2013-14 to 2022-23

Published
11 June 2025
From
Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, +1 more … Minister for Victims and Community Safety
Directorate
Safer Communities Directorate, +1 more … Justice Directorate
Topic
Law and order, Public safety and emergencies

Long term trends in sentences imposed by Scottish courts between 2013-14 and 2022-23. Data is broken down by crime/offence, penalty type and length of custodial sentence.

Part of

Supporting documents

Final Summary

  • The number of convictions across all crime groups are down compared to 10 years ago with the exception of sexual crimes.
  • The number of custodial sentences issued are also down
  • Average length of custodial sentence has increased for most crime groups over the last 10 years, in part due to a reduction in the number of short sentences.
  • Convictions for sexual crime follow a slightly different pattern than other crime groups, in that they are increasing.
  • Although there are relatively fewer sexual crime convictions compared with other crime groups, a higher proportion of them are given custodial sentences and the average length of sentence is relatively long. This means these convictions have a larger effect on the number of days spent in prison than might have been assumed.
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