Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2022-23

13. Bail and undertakings

(Tables 14-16)

When a person is arrested or charged by the Police, the Police may decide to keep that person in custody. The police will submit a report to the Procurator Fiscal in respect of the person in custody and where the Procurator Fiscal decides that the accused is to be prosecuted, they will appear at court on the first lawful day after they were taken into police custody. At this point, the Court will decide whether the accused should be released on bail until they next need to appear in court for later stages of the proceedings. In some circumstances, the individual is not merely cited to appear at Court at a later date, but the Police decide to release the individual on an Undertaking to appear at Court on a specified date and time.

On 25 January 2018, the law applicable to undertakings was changed, and is set out under Sections 25-30 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016. An Undertaking generally has conditions attached including that the person should not commit an offence; interfere with witnesses or evidence or otherwise obstruct the course of justice; or behave in a manner which causes, or is likely to cause, alarm or distress to witnesses. Any further condition that a constable considers necessary and proportionate to ensure that the undertaking conditions are observed may also be imposed. These undertaking conditions are similar to those for bail.

Please note that four additional tables on bail are published alongside this bulletin, and can be found under the “Supporting documents” menu on the website for this publication. These include bail statistics by court type as well as age and sex. One of the tables presents bail aggravations i.e. offences that were committed while the offender was on bail.

High-level summary

Bail and undertakings

(Tables 14-16)

In 2022-23, 26,562 bail orders were made in Scotland. Of these:

• 3,587 (14%) were for crimes of dishonesty
• 3,339 (13%) were for common assault
• 2,587 (10%) were for Non-sexual crimes of violence (excluding common assault)

Year on year change (2021-22 to 2022-23)

• Between 2021-22 and 2022-23 all bail orders made increased by 11%
• The number of bail related offences with a conviction increased by 11% to 7,988.
• The number of undertakings to appear in court decreased by 4% to 23,747.

Change over the latest 10 years (2013-14 to 2022-23)

• Between 2013-14 and 2022-23 there was almost no change in the number of bail related offence with a conviction.
• The number of undertakings to appear in court increased by 7% (to 23,747) between 2013-14 and 2022-23

Breakdown by gender

• The number of bail related offences with a conviction for those aged 31-40 has increased by 29% (to 2,649) between 2013-14 and 2022-23
• The number of males with a bail related offences with a conviction was almost unchanged between 2013-14 and 2022-23 at 6,965. The number of females decreased by 4% over the same period to 1,023.

Key points to note

• In 2022-23, 26,562 bail orders were made. This is an increase of 11% on 2021-22 (23,901) and a decrease of 42% on 2013-14 (46,123). These changes largely track those of court activity overall, with prosecutions increasing 17% between 2021-22 and 2022-23 and decreasing 35% between 2013-14 and 2022-23. However, it should be noted that when a case concludes in court may be in a different year to any corresponding bail order being made.
• The proportion of bail-related offences as a percentage of all bail orders granted in 2022-23 was 30%. This is the joint highest on the 10-year span with 2021-22 (also 30%). This may in part reflect people subject to bail being on bail for longer periods due to court backlogs.

Bail orders made, and by main crime type

The number of bail orders relates to individual bail orders. Unlike the number of proceedings, where we count only one ‘main’ charge per person in each proceeding, multiple bail orders can be issued to a person during one case. Bail orders can also be issued in circumstances which may not lead to proceedings. However, there is a direct correlation between numbers of bail orders and numbers of proceedings, and any overall trend is likely to be similar in both.