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Publication - Statistics

Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: December 2024 edition

Published
19 December 2024
From
Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, +4 more … Chief Statistician, Director of Justice, Lord Advocate, Minister for Victims and Community Safety
Directorate
Safer Communities Directorate, +2 more … Children and Families Directorate, Justice Directorate
Topic
Communities and third sector, Law and order, Public safety and emergencies
ISBN
9781836911593

This report contains summary statistics covering a number of important justice and safer communities areas. It is published with up to date statistics every month.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Summary statistics on journey times (offence date to verdict)

Median journey times decreased in 2023-24. Median journey times decreased in high court and summary court in 2023-24 when compared to 2022-23. There were decreases of 4% in high court (from 1,076 to 1,032 days) and 18% in sheriff summary court (from 306 to 252 days). Sheriff solemn journey times increased by 7% (from 529 to 564 days).

Chart 12: Median time (in days) from offence to verdict by type of court, 2017-18 to 2023-24
A line chart of median offence to verdict time for all accused by court type showing that this time has decreased during the latest financial year for all types of court except sheriff solemn. Last updated August 2024.

The time associated with different parts of an accused person’s journey in the justice system varies depending on the type of court their case is allocated. In solemn courts, the main drivers of journey time are the times from when the case is reported to COPFS to when it is registered in courts and the time from court registration to verdict. In general, for solemn courts the COPFS report to court registration times are higher than court registration to verdict times. In 2023-24 compared to 2022-23, median COPFS report to court registration time increased by 14% in high court and 11% in sheriff solemn court. Median court registration to verdict time remained stable in high court (11 months) and decreased by 9% to 117 days in sheriff solemn court, compared to 2022-23. In sheriff summary courts, the main driver of journey time is the time from court registration to verdict. In 2023-24, the median court registration to verdict time was around 4 months and the median COPFS report to court registration time was 24 days.

Chart 13: Median time (in days) - COPFS report to courts registration and court registration to verdict for high court, 2017-18 to 2023-24
A line chart with median COPFS report to court registration and court registration to verdict times for all accused with verdicts in High Court, showing that median COPFS report to court registration time increased in the latest financial year while median court registration to verdict time remained stable. Last updated August 2024.
Chart 14: Median time (in days) - COPFS report to courts registration and court registration to verdict for sheriff summary courts, 2017-18 to 2023-24
A line chart with median COPFS report to court registration and court registration to verdict times for all accused with verdicts in Sheriff Summary, showing that median COPFS report to court registration time remained stable in the latest financial year while median court registration to verdict times decreased. Last updated August 2024. Last updated August 2024.

There were differences in accused persons’ journey times depending on the type of crime on registration. The longest journey times were observed for accused people charged with at least one sexual crime and verdict issued in high court.

Historic offences increase overall journey times. Journey times can be split by whether an offence was historic or not. The median journey time for accused in the historic sexual crimes group in high court in 2023-24 was around 11 years, down from around 13 years and 4 months in 2022-23 (-18%). In sheriff solemn court, median journey times for this group increased from around 7 years and 5 months in 2022-23 to around 8 years and 2 months in 2023-24 (10%). Median journey times for accused in the non-historic sexual crimes group remained largely stable in high court, at just over 3 years in 2023-24. It increased by 9% in sheriff solemn court from around 1 year 7 months in 2022-23 to around 1 year 9 months in 2023-24. The longest median journey times in the sexual crimes group are for rape and attempted rape. In 2023-24, the median journey time for non-historic cases of rape and attempted rape remained stable at around 3 years. For historic offences, median journey time decreased by 9% in 2023-24 to around 10 years and 8 months.

Contact

Email: justice_analysts@gov.scot

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