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Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts
03/06/2008
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts 2006-07.
The publication presents statistics on criminal proceedings concluded in Scottish courts during 2006-07 as well as information on motor vehicle offences and statistics on bail orders and offences.
The main findings are:
- A total of 153,900 persons were proceeded against in court, an increase of 5 per cent on 2005-06 and the highest figure since 1998-99.
- Ninety per cent of persons proceeded against in court had at least one charge proved against them or a plea of guilty accepted, a total of 138,800 convictions
- The majority (85,000 or 61 per cent) of all convictions resulted in a financial penalty. Most of these were fines, although there were also 1,400 compensation orders issued.
- The number of custodial sentences imposed by courts was just under 18,200, a 9 per cent increase from 2005-06, and the highest figures recorded in the past 10 years. In both 2004-05 and 2005-06 community sentences outnumbered custodial sentences, however in 2006/07 there have been more custodial sentences. Over 80 per cent of all custodial sentences were for six months or less; the average length of determinate custodial sentences was just under seven months.
- The number of convictions resulting in a community sentence was just under 17,400, similar to 2005-06. Community sentences mainly comprised sentences of a probation order (9,200) or a community service order (5,800).
- The peak age for conviction was 18. Seven per cent of 18 year old males in the Scottish population were convicted for a crime or relevant offence (such as common assault or breach of the peace) on at least one occasion during 2006-07; the corresponding proportion for females was 1 per cent.
- Of the 53,550 individuals convicted at least once in 2006-07 for a crime or relevant offence, 65 per cent had at least one such previous conviction in the previous ten years; 12 per cent had over ten such previous convictions.
- There were 63,400 bail orders made during 2006-07, an increase of 11 per cent from 2005-06 and 34 per cent from 2002-03. However, the number of bail orders granted expressed as a percentage of the numbers of crimes cleared up by the police has shown an overall increase from 7 per cent in 2002-03 to 8 per cent in 2006-07.
- Of the total of 187,800 offences with a charge proved in 2006-07, 29,000 (15 per cent) had a bail aggravator recorded against them, indicating that these offences were committed while the offender was on bail, an increase of 1 percentage point from 2005-06.
- The police made an estimated 223,500 conditional offers of a fixed penalty, a decrease of 7 per cent compared with 2006-07. Sixty-three per cent of the offers related to speeding offences.
- An estimated 105,300 fixed penalty notices were issued by the police for stationary vehicle offences, 62 per cent of which were for parking and waiting offences and 32 per cent for failing to display a road tax disc. The total number of fixed penalty notices increased by 6 per cent compared with 2005-06, however much of the long term decrease in the number of notices issued in recent years has reflected the decriminalisation of parking infringements in particular areas.
- The total number of penalty charge notices for parking infringements issued in 2006-07 by those councils which operated these civil penalty schemes was 481,900, a decrease of 12 per cent compared with 2005-06. Revenues from these notices and from vehicle removals totalled £13.6 million in 2006-07.