This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Criminal Appeal Statistics 2001
26/09/2002
A total of just under 3,500 appeals against conviction, sentence and acquittal were concluded in the High Court of Justiciary in 2001, an increase of 10 per cent compared with 2000, figures published today show.
The main findings are:
- The appeals total in 2001 was equivalent to three per cent of the total number of persons with a charge proved in criminal proceedings.
- 68 per cent of appeals in 2001 were refused at the sift stage or abandoned and a further 20 per cent were unsuccessful. In total 12 per cent of appeals were successful - including the quashing of the original conviction (0.7 per cent) or a reduction in the original sentence (11.2 per cent).
- The number of appeals which involved High Court or Sheriff Solemn court cases (27 per cent of all appeals) increased by 11 per cent between 2000 and 2001. Appeals involving Sheriff Summary court cases also increased (by 16 per cent) while there was a 31 per cent decrease in the number of appeals which involved District or stipendiary magistrate court cases.
- Of the appeals decided in 2001, eight per cent related to conviction alone, 88 per cent related to sentence alone and 4 per cent to both conviction and sentence. A very small number of appeals related to the leniency of a sentence or an acquittal. The majority (75 per cent) of appeals involved persons who had been given a custodial sentence while a further 18 per cent related to persons who had been fined.
- The average duration of completed appeals fell from 83 days in 2000 to 80 days in 2001, a decrease of 3 per cent.
- Appeals against conviction took on average almost three times as long to complete as appeals against sentence only, 190 days compared with 66 days.
This item was first posted on the website on Friday, September 27.