Criminal justice social work statistics: 2015-16

The statistics report Criminal justice social work statistics in Scotland: 2015-16 has been published today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician. This includes information on criminal justice social work services and social work orders, as well as characteristics of the people involved.

The number of social work orders issued in 2015-16 was 20,400, similar to levels observed over the last seven years. This includes 510 fiscal work orders, which were rolled out across Scotland during 2015-16.

Sixty eight per cent of social work orders were successfully completed in 2015-16. The completion rate has varied between 68 and 70 per cent over the past five years, which represent consistently higher levels compared to the years before then.

The majority of community payback orders (78 per cent) included a requirement for unpaid work or other activity. Just over half (51 per cent) included an offender supervision requirement.

The completion rate for community payback orders was highest for those aged over 40 (78 per cent) and those in employment (81 per cent).

There were 520 drug treatment and testing orders issued in 2015-16, and numbers have been trending downward since 2012-13.

Background 

This publication is available at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/02/2907 and contains information on criminal justice social work services and social work orders, as well as the characteristics of people involved. Information is provided for 2015-16 and, where possible, for earlier years too in order to identify longer-term trends.

Tables at community justice authority area and local authority area level, which have been updated to include 2015-16, can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/Datasets/SocialWork/Q/forceupdate/on.

Further information on Crime and Justice statistics within Scotland can be accessed at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/statistics/browse/Crime-Justice.

Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be assessed at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About.