FOI/202600501021 · FOI · not held
Criminal proceedings statistics: FOI release
Information requested
Please provide the number of cases concluded in financial year 2023–24 for each of the four types of court - Justice of the Peace Court, Sheriff Court (Summary Procedure), Sheriff Court (Solemn Procedure), High Court of Judiciary (excluding appeals) , and please provide:
Number of cases which resulted in a guilty plea in each of the court types.
In cases heard at trial, the verdict outcome: guilty, not guilty, and not proven.
Response
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in the table below.
Number of people proceeded against in Scottish courts, by court type and outcome, 2023–24.
High court Deserted simpliciter Plea Not Guilty accepted Not guilty Not proven Convicted (Guilty) 6 62 232 155 796 Sheriff solemn Deserted simpliciter 119 Plea Not Guilty accepted 689 Not guilty 506 Not proven 254 Convicted (Guilty) 6,096 Sheriff summary Deserted simpliciter 1,168 Plea Not Guilty accepted 2,473 Not guilty 1,979 Not proven 440 Convicted (Guilty) 44,891 Justice of the Peace Deserted simpliciter 413 Plea Not Guilty accepted 764 Not guilty 455 Not proven 23 Convicted (Guilty) 11,703
Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database
While we aim to provide information wherever possible, the Scottish Government does not hold all of the information requested. The Criminal Proceedings database does not record the number of guilty pleas, as a guilty plea is not a verdict or final outcome of court proceeding. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.
We have been in touch with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), who have advised that they are unable to provide this information. A single court case or set of proceedings may involve multiple accused and multiple charges, each of which can result in different outcomes. As a result, it is not possible to assign a single verdict or outcome to a case using the available data. You may wish to contact SCTS at foi@scotcourts.gov.uk for further information; however, please note that some information may be exempt from disclosure under the court records exemption.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
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
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. You may wish to contact SCTS at foi@scotcourts.gov.uk for further information; however, please note that some information may be exempt from disclosure under the court records exemption.
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