Statistical Bulletin: Crime and Justice Series: Criminal Appeal Statistics, Scotland: 2008-09

This bulletin presents statistics on criminal appeals concluded in the High Court of Justiciary and includes figures up to 2008-09.


3 Courts of First Instance and Types of Criminal Appeals

Table 1 shows that the number of concluded appeals against decisions of the Justice of the Peace ( JP)/District Courts decreased by 16 per cent (from 214 to 180) between 2007-08 and 2008-09. Over the same period, there were decreases of 5 per cent (from 611 to 578) for the Sheriff Solemn Courts and 6 per cent (from 267 to 252) for the High Court.

However the number of concluded appeals against decisions of the Sheriff Summary Courts increased by 2 per cent (from 1,161 to 1,180).

The percentage of total appeals accounted for by each court type in 2008-09 was similar to the percentage recorded in 2007-08.

Table 1 Criminal appeals by type of court of first instance: 1999-00 to 2008-09

Year

Number

Percentage of total

Total (1)

High
Court

Sheriff
Solemn

Sheriff
Summary

JP/District (2)
Court

High
Court

Sheriff
Solemn

Sheriff
Summary

JP/District (2)
Court

1999-00

3,414

348

425

2,277

364

10

12

67

11

2000-01

3,204

395

461

2,103

245

12

14

66

8

2001-02

3,249

393

460

2,161

235

12

14

67

7

2002-03

2,156

420

376

1,242

118

19

17

58

5

2003-04

2,679

458

481

1,548

189

17

18

58

7

2004-05

3,152

427

599

1,839

287

14

19

58

9

2005-06

2,825

437

612

1,533

242

15

22

54

9

2006-07

2,118

296

499

1,158

164

14

24

55

8

2007-08

2,254

267

611

1,161

214

12

27

52

9

2008-09

2,191

252

578

1,180

180

12

26

54

8

1. Includes appeals where type of court of first instance not known.
2. Includes Stipendiary Magistrates Court.

Table 2 shows increases between 2007-08 and 2008-09 in appeals against conviction: a 12 per cent increase (from 173 to 193) for Solemn conviction and a 15 per cent increase (from 241 to 278) for Summary conviction.

However, there were decreases in appeals against sentence only: an 11 per cent decrease (from 706 to 627) for Solemn sentence only and a 5 per cent decrease (from 1,133 to 1,077) for Summary sentence only.

Summary sentence only appeals accounted for the largest percentage (49 per cent) of the total in 2008-09. However this percentage continued the downward trend of recent years and is the lowest figure recorded in the past ten years.

Table 2 Criminal appeals by type of appeal: 1999-00 to 2008-09

Year

Number

Percentage of total

Total (1)

Solemn
conviction (2)

Solemn
sentence
only

Summary
conviction (2)

Summary
sentence
only

Solemn
conviction (2)

Solemn
sentence
only

Summary
conviction (2)

Summary
sentence
only

1999-00

3,414

181

592

382

2,257

5

17

11

66

2000-01

3,204

163

693

272

2,075

5

22

8

65

2001-02

3,249

147

706

311

2,083

5

22

10

64

2002-03

2,156

221

575

215

1,145

10

27

10

53

2003-04

2,679

187

755

316

1,421

7

28

12

53

2004-05

3,152

219

807

411

1,715

7

26

13

54

2005-06

2,825

232

818

315

1,460

8

29

11

52

2006-07

2,118

160

636

213

1,109

8

30

10

52

2007-08

2,254

173

706

241

1,133

8

31

11

50

2008-09

2,191

193

627

278

1,077

9

29

13

49

1. Includes appeals relating to acquittals.
2. Includes appeals against conviction and sentence.

Chart 2 shows that of the 2,191 appeals concluded in 2008-09, 78 per cent related to sentence only, 16 per cent conviction only, and 5 per cent to both conviction and sentence. Other types of appeal, including Extradition Appeals and Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission ( SCCRC) Petitions, accounted for the remaining 1 per cent of appeals.

Chart 2 Criminal appeals by type of appeal: 2008-09

Chart 2 Criminal appeals by type of appeal: 2008-09

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