Question reference: S6W-04907
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 9 December 2021
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 December 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of homicide have received as their main penalty a (a) Sheriff Court fine, (b) Justice of the Peace Court fine, (c) fiscal fine, (d) fiscal compensation order, (e) fiscal combined offer and (f) police antisocial behaviour penalty, in each year since 2018.
Answer
Under criminal proceedings statistics, the category of homicide contains a wide range of different criminal offences. The offences include murder, culpable homicide through to causing death by careless driving.
Sentencing in any given case is a matter for the independent court within the overall legal framework. The court will take into account the full facts and circumstances of a case before deciding sentence.
The latest available information is for the financial year to 2019-20. Our records show that in 2017-18 and 2018-19 there were 3 people and 6 people respectively, who were convicted of homicide in a Sheriff court who received a fine, as a main penalty. All of these convictions relate to the offence of causing death by careless driving. There were no Justice of the Peace Court fines imposed in respect of homicide offences nor any of the items listed (c) to (f) issued for homicide.
Information on the main penalty issued for a crime prosecuted in a Scottish court can be found in table 8a of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistical bulletin, which can be viewed here: Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database