Pandemic takes toll on court journey times

Journey times have increased since the beginning of the pandemic, according to new “experimental” statistics published today by Scotland’s chief statistician.

The pandemic had a significant impact on the journey times of accused persons. Across all crime groupings and court types, the median journey time increased in 2021-22 (post pandemic) when compared to 2019-20 (pre-pandemic).

The median journey times for accused marked “No action” by COPFS increased by 62 days to 239 days (35 per cent) between 2019-20 and 2021-22. In the first nine months of 2022-23, this time has decreased slightly to 236 days (three days, or a one per cent decrease).

In 2021-22, the median journey time for cases marked by COPFS for direct measures increased by 27 days (19 per cent) to 171 days when compared to 2019-20. In the first nine months of 2022-23, this time has increased further, albeit by a much lower amount, to 175 days (for days, two per cent increase).

In the first nine months of 2022-23, median journey times (from date of offence to date of verdict) were around two years and 10 months for accused in High Court, one year and five months in Sheriff solemn court, 11 months in Sheriff summary court and 10 months in the Justice of the Peace court.

The analysis also shows that, overall, during the pre-Covid period, 84 per cent of accused persons proceeded against in criminal courts had a disposal issued within one year of the offence being committed and 97 per cent within two years.

However, since the beginning of the pandemic these percentages have decreased to 61 per cent and 89 per cent.

The types of charges an accused faces affects their journey time, with the longest times occurring for accused persons charged with sexual crimes in the High Court.