FOI/202500462174 · FOI · unclear
Domestic abuse offences or offences with domestic abuse aggravators data: FOI release
Information requested
You asked for an amendment of the answer in relation to a previous FOI disclosure relating to the issue of non-harassment orders in the sentencing of cases of domestic abuse and other crimes with domestic abuse aggravators applied (FOI/202500446564). This is your new request:
a) The number of people convicted for domestic abuse offences (including offences with domestic abuse aggravators applied) made subject to Non-Harassment Orders (in relation to their victim/s) as part of their sentencing in each year since and including 2018/19 and including 2024/25.
b) The number of people convicted for domestic abuse offences (including offences with domestic abuse aggravators applied) NOT made subject to Non-Harassment Orders (in relation to their victim/s) as part of their sentencing in each year since and including 2018/19 and including 2024/25.
c) For the number of Non-Harassment Orders imposed, please specify the court type in which they were imposed (e.g High Court, Sheriff Court).
Response
Regarding your new request, the number of people convicted for domestic abuse offences or offences with domestic abuse aggravators by court type has been extracted from the management information used to publish the Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Criminal Disposals Dashboard (Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Criminal Disposals Dashboard).
The domestic abuse aggravators considered in this analysis were:
CODE Aggravation Legislation D Domestic Abuse W Statutory Aggravation - Domestic Abuse Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 Y Domestic Abuse Statutory Aggravation involving a child Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018
D aggravator is used for cases where COPFS consider it to be a domestic abuse case, but the statutory aggravation in the 2016 Act doesn't apply. Courts are under statutory obligation to consider an NHO in cases where the statutory W aggravator is used and the 2018 Act Y aggravator is used, but not cases where the D aggravator is used.
Table 1 shows the total number of people convicted for a domestic abuse offence or another offence with domestic abuse aggravator and, how many of those accused, got a non-harassment order because of any of those offences by financial year.
Table 1: Non-Harassment orders for case-accused convicted for domestic abuse offences (including offences with domestic abuse aggravators).
Number of case-accused1,2,3 Non-Harassment orders issued Financial year No Yes4 2018-2019 9,163 1,109 2019-2020 8,772 1,741 2020-2021 6,187 1,918 2021-2022 7,128 3,191 2022-2023 7,084 3,534 2023-2024 6,392 4,011 2024-2025 6,388 4,588
1 Number of people convicted of at least one domestic abuse offence or another offence with a domestic abuse aggravator in a case.
2 If there are multiple accused in a case they will be counted separately.
3 If a person appears in more than one case per year then they will be counted more than once.
4 Limited to one per person per case.
Table 2 shows the total number of people convicted with Non-Harassment Orders (in relation to their victim/s) for a domestic abuse offence or another offence with domestic abuse aggravator by court type and financial year.
Table 2: Non-Harassment orders for case-accused convicted for domestic abuse offences (including offences with domestic abuse aggravators) by court type.
Number of case-accused with NHOs1 Court type Financial year High Court Sheriff Solemn Sheriff Summary JP Court Total 2018-2019 3 113 993 0 1,109 2019-2020 14 178 1,548 1 1,741 2020-2021 9 213 1,696 0 1,918 2021-2022 34 353 2,804 0 3,191 2022-2023 68 441 3,022 3 3,534 2023-2024 133 552 3,325 1 4,011 2024-2025 196 562 3,830 0 4,588
1 Limited to one per person per case.
About FOI
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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
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