Criminal justice social work statistics in Scotland: 2018-2019

1 Introduction

1.1 This publication presents national-level information on criminal justice social work activity in Scotland. The report includes data on criminal justice social work services and social work orders, as well as characteristics of the individuals involved.

1.2 The number of social work orders issued was at around the 20,000 mark between 2012-13 and 2016-17 but has fallen in each of the last two years. The most recent figures show 17,600 orders issued in 2018-19 (Chart 1 and Table 2).

Chart 1 Social work orders issued: 2012-13 to 2018-19

** Figures for 2015-16 to 2018-19 exclude, respectively, an estimated 200, 150, 50 and 30 legacy orders as details of these were not collected from local authorities in those years (see Annex A).