Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (DASA) sentences: FOI release

Information requested

1. Number of people who received a compensation order following a conviction under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. Could you please provide this data for the past five calendar years until the date of this request?
2. Number of people who received an absolute discharge following a conviction under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. Could you please provide this data for the past five calendar years until the date of this request?

Response

Please find the information you requested in the table below. Data from Criminal proceedings in Scotland is only available by financial year, covering a period from 1 April to 31 March, with the latest available data on convictions corresponding to 2021-22.

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (DASA) came into effect on 1 April 2019 for crimes committed on or after this date, and were included in the 2019-20 bulletin for the first time. However as the offence is committed where someone engages in a course of conduct and only conduct occurring after 1 April 2019 can be prosecuted, the number of prosecutions in the first year in which the Act is in effect will be lower than in subsequent years.

	2019‐20	2020‐21	2021‐22
Absolute discharge	1	‐	3
Compensation Order	1	‐	6

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

Please note that data for 2020-21 and 2021-22 are affected by the pandemic, subsequent court closures, reduced court capacity due to physical distancing measures and delays to cases where key participants were forced to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19, and should not be considered indicative of long term trends.

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