Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 – Updated

Updated version

Issues raised during routine validation checks of the 2021-22 data meant we were unable to provide the usual breakdown of convicted persons by court type in the original publication of Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2021-22. Following work with justice partners we are now able to provide this data for the ten years from 2012-13 to 2021-22. Additionally, we have adopted new procedures to ensure this information will continue to be available going forward. This updated version of the bulletin and tables includes this information. Specifically, court type breakdowns are detailed in Section 4 and data are presented in Tables 3 and 15. The updated data confirmed that an earlier version of the 2021-22 data had underestimated the volume of people convicted in Sheriff solemn courts as these had been mislabelled as Sheriff summary proceedings. The updated data shows this issue also affected earlier years and, to a much lesser extent, other court types. Therefore, any court type breakdowns provided in earlier versions of Criminal Proceedings in Scotland should be treated with caution.

In addition, this updated version includes the corrections to the HTML and PDF included in the errata to the original Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2021-22 publication.

This bulletin forms part of the Scottish Government series of statistical bulletins on the criminal justice system. Statistics are presented on criminal proceedings concluded in Scottish courts and on a range of measures available as alternatives to prosecution, which are issued by the police and by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Detailed figures for 2021-22 are presented, along with selected trends for the most recent 10 years.

These figures demonstrate the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the justice system. Although 2021-22 did not see the same court closures as 2020-21, this period spanned the early stages of the vaccine rollout, reduced court capacities due to physical distancing measures and delays to proceedings where key particpiants were forced to isolate following positive COVID-19 tests. Whilst overall volumes in 2021-22 showed an increase over the 2020-21 figures, they remained below a typical pre-pandemic year. Although the impact of the pandemic is evident in these latest figures, caution should be taken in attributing any changes entirely to this ongoing situation. As the data continues to be affected by the pandemic and the justice system’s recovery, figures for 2021-22, alongside those from 2020-21, should not be considered indicative of longer-term trends.