Chamber and committees

Scottish Government submission of 23 September 2021

PE1876/J: Accurately record the sex of people charged or convicted of rape or attempted rape

Thank you for your email of 11 June 2021 seeking Scottish Government views on the actions called for in this petition. I apologise for my delay in replying.

The vast majority of sexual offences each year are committed by people who are biologically and identify as male. Women and children are disproportionately the victims of these crimes.

The crime of rape is committed by someone with a penis, including a surgically constructed penis. As the petition mentions, a person (male or female) can also be convicted of rape when their involvement was art and part (assisted in the perpetration of the crime).

Police Scotland recently responded to a Freedom of Information request on rape statistics.

The Scottish Government publishes each year a statistical bulletin known as Criminal Proceedings in Scotland. The bulletin presents statistics on criminal proceedings concluded in Scottish courts, including a breakdown by sex of convicted persons by crime type. As the introduction to the bulletin notes, these statistics are derived from data held on the Criminal History System (CHS), an operational database which is used for the primary purpose of recording of information on people accused or convicted of perpetrating a criminal act. The CHS is used and maintained by Police Scotland. It is, therefore, for Police Scotland to determine how the sex of people charged or convicted of rape or attempted rape is recorded on the CHS.

The table below gives information taken from Table 8(c) of Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: People convicted by sex, main crime/offence and main penalty, 2019-20.

These statistics show that all people convicted of rape or attempted rape in 2019/20 were recorded as male.

The Scottish Government queries any unusual sex values in criminal justice statistics with Police Scotland, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The 2018-19 statistics do show 1 female as having been convicted of rape. This was an error: in reviewing the rape statistics for recent years we came across two errors in relation to how sex was recorded and this was one of them.

I hope this is helpful to the Committee.