Hearings in Scottish courts - ethnicity of individuals: analysis

This occasional paper presents new experimental analysis based on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service’s management information, on the ethnicity of individuals who were proceeded against and sentenced from April 2016 to February 2023.


2 Recorded crime and convictions

2.1 Demographics of convictions in Scotland

Official statistics on criminal proceedings in Scotland [3] from the year 2020-21 gives analysis of characteristics of individuals from criminal proceedings concluded in Scottish courts, including age and gender. The ethnicity of individuals is not included.

In 2020-21, there was reduced court activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 46,497 people were proceeded against in court, which was 46% less than in 2019-20, as shown in Figure 2. During the same period, the total number of convictions was 42,532 (44% less than 2019-20).

Figure 2: Number of people proceeded against and number resulting in a conviction from April 2011 to March 2021.

A line chart showing the long term decline in the number of individuals proceeded against and convicted since 2011-12.

2.2 Categorisation of crime types

The Scottish Government has published an update on recorded crime in Scotland for 2021-22 [3]. There are a total of over 500 types of crimes and offences ("crime" is used for more serious criminal acts whereas "offence" is used for those which are less serious). There are a total of six crime groups and three offence groups, as shown in Table 1, covering 50 categories (listed in Appendix A).

Table 1: Crime and offence groups (used from 2021-22).

Crimes

Offences

1. Non-sexual crimes of violence

2. Sexual crimes

3. Crimes of dishonesty

4. Damage and reckless behaviour

5. Crimes against society

6. Coronavirus restriction crimes

7. Antisocial offences

8. Miscellaneous offences

9. Road traffic offences

The number of crimes recorded by Police Scotland in 2021-22 was 286,464, a decrease of 4% compared to 2020-21. This is the lowest level since 1974. Table 2shows the breakdown of crimes by crime group.

Table 2: Number of crimes recorded by police in 2021-22.

Crimes

Number of crimes

Percentage of total

Non-sexual crimes of violence

69,286

24%

Sexual crimes

15,049

5%

Crimes of dishonesty

92,873

32%

Damage and reckless behaviour

44,284

15%

Crimes against society

61,059

21%

Coronavirus restrictions

3,913

1%

Total

286,464

100%

The overall number of offences recorded by Police Scotland in 2021-22 decreased compared to 2020-21 by 3%, to 180,913. The breakdown by offence group is shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Number of offences recorded by police in 2021-22.

Offences

Number of offences

Percentage of total

Antisocial offences

55,975

31%

Miscellaneous offences

12,951

7%

Road traffic offences

111,987

62%

Total

180,913

100%

Contact

Email: Justice_Analysts@gov.scot

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