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COPFS statistics on case processing in the last 5 years (2018-2023)

First published

18 Jul 2023

Last updated

18 Jul 2023

Reports received

Reports received1

Statistics on Case Processing: Last 5 years 2018 - 2019 2019 - 2020 2020 - 2021 2021 - 2022 2022 - 2023
Criminal reports 170,575 169,894 159,184 148,925 144,957
Death reports 10,397 10,921 15,739 15,377 14,147
Total reports received 180,972 180,815 174,923 164,302 159,104

Non-court disposals

Non-court disposals2

Statistics on Case Processing: Last 5 years 2018 - 2019 2019 - 2020 2020 - 2021 2021 - 2022 2022 - 2023
No Action 17,705 15,999 15,897 13,982 13,042
Warning letters 5,816 5,261 6,583 5,203 3,249
Conditional Offers of Fixed
Penalties Paid		 6,896 7,837 10,384 12,180 10,942
Fiscal fines paid/accepted 17,830 17,705 12,399 11,510 10,476
Compensation Orders Accepted 756 595 925 594 680
Combined Fiscal Fines/Compensation Orders Accepted 3,178 3,840 2,051 3,189 4,177
Other Non-court disposals 11,144 11,747 13,960 14,066 14,031
Total Non-court disposals3 63,325 62,984 62,199 60,724 56,597

No Further Action

Statistics on Case Processing: Last 5 years 2018 - 2019 2019 - 2020 2020 - 2021 2021 - 2022 2022 - 2023
Total No Further Action4 18,861 17,734 16,437 23,581 24,585

Information notes

(1) COPFS receives reports about crimes from the police and other reporting agencies and then decides what action to take, including whether to prosecute someone. We also look into deaths that need further explanation.

(2) Information on court disposals is available from the Management Information Analysis Team at the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS).

(3) There is a time lag between receipt of a case and final disposal so that, for example, some cases received in 2021-2022 will not result in a disposal until 2022-2023.

(4) No Further Action = Cases which were closed after action had been commenced or attempted (e.g. cases which were closed because the accused died, the accused could not be traced, a key witness was not available, etc.

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