Prosecution for the crime of Bigamy under common law: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/02743
Date received: 1 October 2018 
Date responded: 22 October 2018

 

You asked:
 
How many prosecutions have been made under Section 24 of the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 and for the crime of Bigamy under common law in each of the following years: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 (in financial or calendar years, however this information is held).
 
Of those in question 1 and for the same time period: (i) Please provide how many cautions were given (ii) Please provide how many reports were made to Police Scotland under Section 24 which were not prosecuted (iii) Please provide how many custodial sentences were issued and if possible the length of sentence.
 

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. However, you may wish to contact Police Scotland at foi@scotland.pnn.police.uk who may be able to help you. The reasons why we don’t have the information are explained below.
 
With regards to question 1 and (iii), the available information for the period between 2013-14 and 2016-17 shows: There were no prosecutions with a main charge under section 24 of the Marriage (S) Act 1977. One person was prosecuted in 2014-15 for a main charge of Bigamy, no custodial sentence was issued.  

 

Information for 2017-18 will be available in early 2019 following publication of our ‘Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2017-18’ statistical bulletin. The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at:  https://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs.

Reasons for not providing information

 

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because: (i) Please provide how many cautions were given - formal police cautions do not apply in Scotland. More information is available via this link https://www.mygov.scot/police-fiscal-warning-penalty/

 

Our database shows there were no direct measures issued against section 24 or Bigamy between 2013-14 and 2016-17.
 
(ii) Please provide how many reports were made to Police Scotland under Section 24 which were not prosecuted – this information is not held centrally. Police Scotland may receive a report of a crime but not have sufficient evidence to refer the case on to the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service. 
 
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.