FOI/202500470626 · FOI · not held
Knife crime prosecution statistics: FOI release
Information requested
1. How many people have been prosecuted under Section 47 and Section 49 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Scotland Act between January 1, 2013 and June 1, 2025, broken down per year. Please provide details for prosecutions under S.47 and S.49 separately.
2. For S.47 cases:
a) How many were put on petition per year?
b) How many were dealt with as summary complaints, per year?
c) How many were diverted from prosecution, per year?
3. For S.49 cases:
a) How many were put on petition per year?
b) How many were dealt with as summary complaints per year?
c) How many were diverted from prosecution per year?
4. Of the prosecutions under both of these acts:
a) How many received custodial sentences per year?
b) How many received custodial sentences of between four and five years, per year?
c) How many received custodial sentences of three to four years, per year?
d) How many received custodial sentences of less than three years, per year?
Response
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Specifically, the data the Scottish Government publish on people prosecuted and convicted in Scottish courts (Criminal Proceedings in Scotland) does not include data on individuals placed on petition or diversions from prosecution.
Furthermore, data are published on a financial year not a calendar years basis and the most recent available data is for the ten years from 2013-14 to 2022-23. We therefore cannot supply data for 2023-24 or 2024-25. You may wish to try contacting the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal or Scottish Courts and Tribunal Services, who may be able to provide this information.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have this part of the information you have requested.
The data that we are able to provide is shown in the tables below and in the specific responses to your queries listed:
1) See Table 1, below.
2a) The Scottish Government does not hold this data.
2b) See Table 2, below.
2c) The Scottish Government does not hold this data.
3a) The Scottish Government does not hold this data.
3b) See Table 2, below.
3c) The Scottish Government does not hold this data.
4a) See Table 3, below.
4b) See Table 4, below.
4c) See Table 4, below.
4d) See Table 4, below.
Table 1 People prosecuted in Scottish courts under Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 Sections 47 and 49, where main charge1, 2013-14 to 2022-23
2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-212 2021-222 2022-232 Total prosecutions 2,102 1,986 1,882 1,790 1,768 1,919 2,092 1,355 1,847 2,051 Section 47 835 853 742 699 665 743 795 462 669 763 Section 49 1,267 1,133 1,140 1,091 1,103 1,176 1,297 893 1,178 1,288
Table 2 People prosecuted in Scottish courts by summary procedure under Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 Sections 47 and 49, where main charge1, 2013-14 to 2022-23
2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-212 2021-222 2022-232 Total prosecutions 1,204 1,113 1,097 1,123 1,254 1,372 1,468 929 1,261 1,458 Section 47 647 626 564 545 551 614 629 366 528 622 Section 49 557 487 533 578 703 758 839 563 733 836
Table 3 People convicted in Scottish courts under Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 Sections 47 and 49, where main charge1, and given a custodial sentence as main penalty, 2013-14 to 2022-23
2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-212 2021-222 2022-232 Total custody 643 586 508 488 504 600 609 419 481 427 Section 47 174 180 123 139 132 168 167 114 108 95 Section 49 469 406 385 349 372 432 442 305 373 332
Table 4 People convicted in Scottish courts under Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 Sections 47 and 49, where main charge1, and given a custodial sentence of five years or less as main penalty, by sentence length, 2013-14 to 2022-23
2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-212 2021-222 2022-232 Total custody 643 586 508 488 503 600 608 419 481 427 Section 47 Less than three years 171 179 123 137 131 167 167 111 107 95 Three years to under four years 3 1 . 2 . 1 . 3 1 . Four years to five years . . . . . . . . . . Section 49 Less than three years 456 395 379 343 368 421 431 303 371 326 Three years to under four years 13 10 5 4 4 9 9 2 1 6 Four years to five years . 1 1 2 . 2 1 . 1 .
Notes:
The main charge is the one conferring the most severe penalty. Data from 2020-21 onwards were affected by the pandemic, including court closures, reduced court capacities due to social distancing measures, delays to cases where key participants were forced to self-isolate following positive COVID tests and shifting volumes to tackle back logs. Figures for these years should not be considered indicative of long-term trends.
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Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
How many people have been prosecuted under Section 47 and Section 49 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Scotland Act between January 1, 2013 and June 1, 2025, broken down per year. Please provide details for prosecutions under S.47 and S.49 separately. For S.47 cases: a) How many were put on petition per year? For S.49 cases: a) How many were put on petition per year? This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have this part of the information you have requested.
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