What the key sources of data on prostitution offences are within the criminal justice system.

The Scottish Government’s primary sources of data on prostitution offences within the criminal justice system are the annual National Statistics publications on Recorded Crime in Scotland and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland .
Recorded Crime in Scotland is based on a count of these crimes, reported to Police Scotland, and broken down by local authority. The most recent publication covers the 2020-21 financial year.
The Criminal Proceedings in Scotland publication provides statistics on individuals proceeded against in court (specifically their age and gender). Statistics are also available on the result of these proceedings and the subsequent disposal given if the individual was found to be guilty. The most recent publication covers the 2019-20 financial year.
For these statistical collections, prostitution offences fall under the category “Crimes associated with prostitution”, which is included in Sexual crimes. This category includes six specific crime types:
? Brothel keeping;
? Immoral traffic;
? Offences related to prostitution;
? Procuration (excluding homosexual acts);
? Procuration of homosexual acts; and
? Soliciting services of a person engaged in prostitution
Offences related to prostitution is defined in the Scottish Crime Recording Standard as, “A prostitute (whether male or female) who for the purposes of prostitution loiters in a public place; solicits in a public place or in any other place so as to be seen from a public place; or importunes any person who is in a public place.”
The publications described above provide statistics on the Crimes associated with prostitution group but do not routinely include separate figures on the six crime types listed above. However, this information is available on request.
As an example, below we show data from the last available five years for recorded crime (Table 1) and criminal proceedings (Tables 2-4, covering proceedings, convictions and conviction rates, respectively). Note: criminal proceedings data is only available up to 2019-20, whereas recorded crime is up to 2020-21.
Care should be taken when comparing these different data sources. For example, recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year. In addition, a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only the main charge is counted in these court proceedings statistics. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.
Table 1. Police recorded crimes associated with prostitution, Scotland, 2016-17 to 2020-21
Crime
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
Brothel keeping
14
18
10
13
13
Immoral traffic
26
21
31
23
23
Offences related to prostitution
194
65
50
13
2
Procuration (excluding homosexual acts)
11
8
5
10
7
Procuration of homosexual acts
0
2
0
0
0
Soliciting services of a person engaged in prostitution
58
22
139
42
11
Total
303
136
235
101
56
Table 2. Number of people proceeded for crimes associated with prostitution where it is the main charge, Scotland, 2015-16 to 2019-20
Crime
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Brothel keeping
7
3
3
2
6
Immoral traffic
2
0
2
2
2
Offences related to prostitution
55
59
32
9
9
Procuration (excluding homosexual acts)
0
0
1
0
0
Procuration of homosexual acts
0
0
0
0
0
Soliciting services of a person engaged in prostitution
53
36
15
30
57
Total
117
98
53
43
74
Table 3. Number of people convicted for crimes associated with prostitution where it is the main charge, Scotland, 2015-16 to 2019-20
Crime
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019