A report on Domestic Abuse and Stalking charges in Scotland 2022-23 was published today. This provides information on charges reported to the Procurator Fiscal and identified as relating to Domestic Abuse. It includes information on charges under section 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, following the implementation of this legislation on 1 April 2019.
The main findings are
- In 2022-23, 30,139 charges were reported to COPFS with a domestic abuse identifier. This is a decrease of 8% compared to the 2021-22 total of 32,776.
- The vast majority of charges identified as relating to domestic abuse are prosecuted. An initial decision was made to proceed to court with 94% of charges in 2022-23.
- The most common types of offences reported in 2022-23 with a domestic abuse identifier were threatening and abusive behaviour offences (27%), common assault (24%) and crimes against public justice (23%, includes bail offences).
- The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 came into force on 1st April 2019, creating a new statutory offence of engaging in a course of behaviour which is abusive of a partner or ex-partner. In 2022-23, 1,753 charges were reported under this legislation, accounting for 5.8% of all domestic abuse charges reported.
- In 2022-23, 921 stalking charges under section 39 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 were reported to COPFS. Of these, 485 (53 percent) were identified as domestic abuse.
A full copy of the publication and the data tables can be accessed via the links below:
Main publication: www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/domestic-abuse-and-stalking- charges-in-scotland-2022-2023/
Data tables: www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/domestic-abuse-and-stalking- charges-in-scotland-2022-2023-data-tables/