§ Dame Judith Hartasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide figures for 1980, 1981 and 1982 showing the number of cases relating to crimes and offences, respectively, brought before the sheriff courts in which verdicts of not guilty or not proven, or where it was found that there was no case to answer, were the outcome.
§ Mr. YoungerThe available information is as follows:
351W
Persons called to trial in Sheriff Courts—Scotland 1980 1981 1982* Result Crimes Offences Crimes Offences Crimes Offences Pled 'guilty' 31,573 118,985 29,118 92,338 32,419 82,063 Pled 'not guilty' 10,430 14,936 9,936 14,963 12,016 13,770 Charge withdrawn 891 1,970 1,346 1,894 1,459 1,830 Found 'not guilty'† 3,002 3,251 2,842 2,735 3,424 2,666 Found 'not proven' 853 799 601 633 606 447 Charge proved 5,684 8,916 5,147 9,701 6,527 8,827 * Provisional † Includes formal verdicts when it is found that there is no case to answer