Justice social work statistics: 2022-23

The Chief Statistician has released figures on justice social work statistics. This includes information on justice social work services and orders, as well as characteristics of the people involved.

There were 14,700 community payback orders (CPOs) commenced in 2022-23. This was 20 per cent higher than in 2021-22 but was the third lowest in the last decade. From 2013-14 to 2019-20, the annual number of orders commenced ranged from 16,500 to 19,500.

In 2022-23, for the first time since 2019-20, slightly more CPOs were issued with unpaid work or other activity requirements (68 per cent) than offender supervision requirements (67 per cent).

The successful completion rate for CPOs terminated in 2022-23 was 73 per cent.

The number of diversion from prosecution cases commenced fell by two per cent between 2021-22 and 2022-23 to 2,600. This was the second highest level in the last 10 years.

There were 1,100 bail supervision cases commenced in 2022-23, the highest in the last 10 years.

There were 1,300 structured deferred sentences imposed in Scotland in 2022-23. This was 42 per cent higher than in 2021-22 and the highest in the last five years.

There were 1,800 statutory custody and community based throughcare cases commenced in 2022-23. This was the third lowest in the last 10 years.

 Background

This publication is available on the Scottish Government website and contains information on justice social work services and orders, as well as the characteristics of people involved. Information is provided for 2022-23 and, where possible, for earlier years, too, in order to identify longer-term trends. Tables at local authority area level, which have been updated to include 2022-23, have also been published. Accredited official statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a substantial impact on justice social work since March 2020, mainly as a result of the national lockdowns and other measures to keep people safe. This has resulted in lower volumes of cases going through courts, particularly in the years 2020-21 and 2021-22. The last restrictions affecting the delivery of justice social work were removed during the year 2022-23. Some caution is advised in interpreting the figures in this publication from 2020-21 onwards, particularly how they compare with earlier years.

Further publications are available on the Scottish Government website on crime and justice statistics. The website also contains more information about our statistics, which are produced by professionally independent statistical staff.

Figures in this publication on the number of new orders (CPOs, etc) commenced are collected on a different basis from those published in the criminal proceedings bulletins. Some of these differences include:

1. The unit of analysis is cases for criminal proceedings but orders for justice social work.
2. For people with a charge proved who received more than one type of disposal, criminal proceedings data classifies them under the main disposal.
3. Criminal proceedings data also classifies under the penalty of first disposal and does not reflect any subsequent changes to that disposal from, for example, an appeal or a fine default.