Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2022-23

Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: 2022-23

This bulletin forms part of the Scottish Government series of statistical bulletins on the criminal justice system. Statistics are presented on criminal proceedings concluded in Scottish courts and on a range of measures available as alternatives to prosecution, which are issued by the police and by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Detailed figures for 2022-23 are presented, along with selected trends for the most recent ten years.

The 2022-23 bulletin contains the same tables as previous bulletins, however the chapters have been reworked to provide a high-level summary of the data and charts.

These figures demonstrate the continued recovery of the justice system following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2022-23 marked a return to normal court capacities following the court closures and reduced capacities during 2020-21 and 2021-22. However, it does reflect the challenges of dealing with the resulting backlog of cases and despite an increase in overall volume of proceedings in 2022-23 these remained below 2019-20 levels. Although the impact of the pandemic is evident in these latest figures, caution should be taken in attributing any changes entirely to this. As the data continues to be affected by the pandemic and the justice system’s recovery, figures for 2022-23, alongside those from 2020-21 onwards, should not be considered indicative of longer-term trends.

Description: This is an infographic composed of five individual charts showing the headline trends in Criminal Proceedings in Scotland for the period 2013-14 to 2022-23. The first chart is a line chart showing the total number of convictions over this 10 year span. It shows a 20% increase from 59,343 in 2021-22 to 68,067 in 2022-23 and a decreasing long term trend, with 105,656 in 2013-14. The second chart is a line chart showing that average length of custodial sentences has increased by 31% in 10 years, from 295 days in 2013-14 to 386 days in 2022-23. Additional data shows this is driven by a smaller proportion of shorter sentences compared to longer sentences over the same span. A third chart shows that in 2022-23 sentences given were 45% financial penalties, 24% community sentences, 18% other sentences and 13% custodial sentences. The remaining two charts refer to non-court disposals given by the police and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal (COPFS), respectively. The first of these shows that more than two-thirds of police disposals are Recorded Police Warnings, with the rest made up of 16% Early and Effective Interventions and 15% Anti-social Behaviour Fixed Penalty Notices. The second of these shows that three-quarters of COPFS disposals are Fiscal fines and fixed penalties, with the two contributing equally. The remaining COPFS disposals were 11% fiscal warnings, 14% fiscal combined fine plus compensation and 2% fiscal compensation.