Number of convicted criminals granted an "absolute discharge": FOI release

Information requested

Number of people receiving "absolute discharge" in each year since and including 2018/19 and including the part year of 2024/25; how many of those discharges in each year were for for a. murder, b. serious assault and attempted murder, c. sexual assault, d. rape, e. domestic abuse?

Response

The answer to your question is provided in the table below.

Number of people given an Absolute Discharge as the main penalty, where main charge, 2018-19 to 2021-22.

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
All crimes and offences	430	377	216	383
Murder and culpable homicide	-	-	-	-
Serious assault and attempted murder	5	3	1	8
Sexual assault	4	3	1	4
Rape and attempted rape	-	-	-	-
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018	-	1	-	3

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

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. As the most recent available data is for 2021-22, we are unable to supply figures for 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25. Information for 2022-23 will be available upon the release of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2022-23 Statistical Bulletin, which is scheduled for publication in late 2024.

Please note:

Data are available by financial year, with the most recent data for 2021-22. Criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year, and court proceedings may be concluded in a subsequent year.

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.

Absolute discharges for domestic abuse crimes are limited here to charges under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. However, please note that any crime may carry a domestic aggravator, including (but not limited to): murder and culpable homicide, attempted murder and serious assault, rape and attempted rape, and sexual assault. The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (DASA) came into effect on 1 April 2019.

You can find more data on the Absolute Discharges and No Order Made results in the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 bulletin (Main bulletin tables - 7(a), 7(b), 8(a)) available at Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 – Updated - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

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