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5. Commentary: Persons Convicted (Tables 3, 4a and 4b)
5.1 The total number of convictions in 2005/06 was 128,400, a decrease of 5 per cent compared with 2004/05. Of these, 78,700 (61 per cent of the total) took place in sheriff summary courts.
5.2 The more serious cases are dealt with in solemn courts: the High Court or a sheriff sitting with a jury. A total of 4,200 persons were convicted in solemn courts in 2005/06, 3 per cent of the total. The number of convictions in sheriff and jury (sheriff solemn) courts decreased by 14 per cent between 2004/05 and 2005/06. (Recording delays mean that the figures for High Court convictions in 2005/06, and to a lesser extent 2004/05, may be underestimates.)
5.3 In 2005/06, a total of 45,600 persons were convicted in the district courts or in the stipendiary magistrates court that operates in Glasgow. This represented a decrease of 5 per cent compared with the previous year and a decrease of 30 per cent compared with 1996/97.
5.4 Within crime categories, increases between 2004/05 and 2005/06 were recorded for the number of persons convicted for common assault (up 3 per cent to 14,000), and breach of the peace (up 1 per cent to 16,300). The 4 per cent increase in convictions for crimes of indecency is due to a 16 per cent increase for "other" (which mainly comprise offences related to prostitution). Among the categories to show a decrease were non-sexual crimes of violence (down 14 per cent to 2,100), crimes of dishonesty (down 11 per cent to 17,500), motor vehicle offence (down 6 per cent to 44,500) and fire-raising and vandalism (down 4 per cent to 4,800).
5.5 Excluding breach (of social work orders) proceedings, the 128,400 convictions in 2005/06 involved a total of 176,600 individual offences where the charge was proved. On average there were 1.42 charges proved for each conviction.
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