Criminal proceedings in Scotland: 2020-2021

7. People convicted by offence group

There were 23,785 “offence” convictions in 2020-21, a decrease of 50% over the year (from 47,427). As a proportion of all offences, common assault and breach of the peace together made up 50%, while unlawful use of a vehicle and speeding accounted for 23%.

Miscellaneous offences

Ninety-two per cent of “miscellaneous offences” are breach of the peace and common assault offences. Both groups showed decreases in convictions between 2019-20 and 2020-21, with the breach of the peace category down 38% from 11,495 to 7,107 convictions, and common assault, down 42% from 8,388 to 4,876 convictions.

Motor vehicle offences

Motor vehicle offence convictions decreased by 58% from 25,745 convictions in 2019-20 to 10,777 in 2020-21.

All types of motor vehicle offences saw a decrease over the past year, with the largest decreases between 2019-20 and 2020-21 for:

• Seat belt offences decreased by 80% from 174 to 35.
• speeding, down 76% from 9,175 convictions to 2,197.
• mobile phone offences, down 70% from 466 convictions to 138.

There were 2,185 convictions in 2020-21 for driving under the influence, which is 36% lower than the figure of 3,402 in 2019-20.