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

Length of Custodial Sentences

The average number of days of custodial sentence by crime has increased for most crime groups

• One of the largest increases in average days of custody was for sexual crimes which increased by 19%
• The only crime group which saw a decrease in the average days of custody was crimes against society.
• Some of the overall increase is due to a decrease in the number of short sentences handed out. The Presumption Against Short Periods of Imprisonment (Scotland) Order 2019 (PASS) means that courts are now strongly encouraged not to impose sentences of less than 12 months.
• Decisions on sentencing are for the independent courts, based on the facts and circumstances of each case. One factor contributing to this increase is that Courts are giving out longer sentences.

Average length of sentence has increased more for sexual crimes than for any other category

Figure 13: Average length of sentence (days)  in Scotland by crime, 2013-14 to 2022-23

Total 'days in custody' is the number of custodial sentences imposed multiplied by the average length of custody

• This is one way of looking at the combined effect of changes to average length of sentence and number of sentences imposed. It can give us an idea of the contribution of each crime to the total number of days in custody.
• This is just theoretical as the number of days imposed is not the same as the number of days actually served.
• The crime group which contributes the most days of custody is Non-sexual crimes of violence. Within this group, Serious assault and attempted murder contribute the most days of custody. Rape and attempted rape contributed the second highest number of days of custody.
• It is important to note that life sentences and Orders for Lifelong Restriction are not included in the calculations for average sentence length. This particularly affects the average length of sentence for serious crimes like murder where life sentences are the usual penalty.

Non-sexual crimes of violence contributed the most ‘days of custody’ in Scotland in 2022-23

Figure 14: Millions of ‘days in custody’ in Scotland by crime/offence, 2022-23

Since 2013-14, the number of 'days in custody' imposed has decreased for the majority of crime groups

• It is almost the same for Non-sexual crimes of violence as it was in 2013-14
• The only crime group that has seen an increase in the number of custody days each year is sexual crime, which has increased by 47% since 2013-14.

The number of ‘days in custody’ has decreased for all major crime/offence groups except for sexual crimes

Figure 15: Millions of ‘days in custody’ in Scotland by crime, 2013-14 to 2022-23