Publication - Research and analysis

Women in the justice system: evidence review

Published: 26 January 2022
Directorate: Safer Communities Directorate
Topic: Equality and rights, Law and order
ISBN: 9781802019452

A review of quantitative evidence, drawn from a range of statistical data sources across the justice system in Scotland, comparing findings for women against those for men.

Supporting documents

Footnotes

1. Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research, Justice Journeys Informing policy and practice through lived experience of victim‐survivors of rape and serious sexual assault

2. Coronavirus (COVID-19): domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls during Phases 1, 2 and 3 of Scotland's route map (22 May to 11 August 2020)

3. The Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System 2019 published by the Ministry of Justice shows similar patterns for females in the criminal justice system in England and Wales.

4. The SVTS achieved around 2,700 interviews over a six week period between September and October 2020, compared to around 5,600 SCJS interviews across 12 months.

5. Information on the differences between SVTS and SCJS which affect comparability is presented in Section 1.5 of the SVTS 2020 Main Findings report.

6. Due to the small numbers of respondents to the SVTS who experienced violent crime, comparisons of the likelihood of experiencing violent crime between sub-groups (e.g. women vs. men) are not presented.

7. Recorded crime in Scotland: attempted murder and serious assault, 2008-2009 and 2017-2018

8. Recorded crime in Scotland: robbery 2008-2009 and 2017-2018

9. Homicide in Scotland statistics

10. Unintentional injuries - Hospital admissions year ending 31 March 2021 and deaths year ending 31 December 2020 - Public Health Scotland. The published data available from Public Health Scotland is based on people aged 15 and over.

11. The SCJS includes self-completion modules which cover topics of a more sensitive nature and are therefore completed by the interviewee privately, without the interviewer knowing the responses.

12. These terms are used for ease of reference and do not relate to the seriousness of the impact on the individual.

13. In order to provide suitable sample sizes, these results have been published biennially since the 2017-18 SCJS, with two years of data combined to carry out the analysis. The latest figures cover 2018-19 and 2019-20 and are referred to as 2018-20 throughout the self-completion results.

14. Where the victim was aged 16 or above and it was known whether they were female or male: Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2020-2021

15. Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have a shared definition of domestic abuse available on Police Scotland website.

16. Domestic Abuse recorded by the Police in Scotland statistics. The analysis presented here looks at incidents where the victim was female against those where the victim was male and where the victim's age was 16 and above.

17. Police recorded cyber-crime in Scotland, 2020-2021.

18. Information on the differences between SVTS and SCJS which affect comparability is presented in Section 1.5 of the SVTS 2020 Main Findings report.

19. "Since the virus outbreak" is defined as since the start of the UK's first national lockdown on the 23^rd March 2020.

20. Office for National Statistics: Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) 2019-20.

21. The full list of twelve questions on confidence in aspects of the criminal justice system is presented in the SCJS Main Findings report.

22. Drug seizures and offender characteristics statistics

23. Recorded crime in Scotland: attempted murder and serious assault, 2008-2009 and 2017-2018

24. Recorded Crime in Scotland, Common Assault study, 2015-16

25. Recorded crime in Scotland: robbery 2008-2009 and 2017-2018

26. Homicide in Scotland statistics

27. This analysis looks at incidents where the accused was female against those where the accused was male and where the accused's age was 16 and above.

28. Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics

29. The reconviction rate presented is the proportion of offenders in any given cohort who were reconvicted one or more times by a court within a year from the date of their index conviction. More background to these figures is available at Reconviction Rates in Scotland: 2018-19 Offender Cohort.

30. Scottish Prison Population statistics

31. Criminal justice social work statistics: 2019 to 2020

32. Police Scotland Equality and Diversity Mainstreaming & Equality Outcomes Progress Report 2021

33. SPS Annual Reports and Accounts 2019-20

34. SFRS Fire Safety and Organisational Statistics 2020-21

35. COPFS Equality Mainstreaming Report 2019-21

36. SCTS Annual People Scorecard 2019-20