You asked
First of all I would like to know what the majority of offenders charged with domestic abuse get sentenced to? Preferably with statistics for Scotland for the past two years (2015-2017), otherwise UK works fine.
Second, how many deaths there are due to suicide attempts as a result of living in an abusive relationship? Again, would prefer for Scotland but UK also works, within the past two years.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry on what offenders charged with domestic abuse-related offences in Scotland or the UK get sentenced for, and the number of deaths by suicide as a result of living in an abusive relationship in Scotland or the UK.
We publish crime statistics for England and Wales only, therefore you would need to contact Justice Analytical Services at the Scottish Government for statistics for Scotland.
Appendix Table 23 published as a time series alongside Domestic Abuse in England and Wales, year ending March 2017 shows that there were 79,413 defendants charged for domestic abuse-related offences in England and Wales in the year ending March 2017, according to figures recorded by the Crown Prosecution Service. Over three-quarters (76%) of defendants prosecuted for domestic abuse-related offences in the same period were convicted, equating to 70,853 defendants. As cases of domestic abuse move through the criminal justice system, they are entered into different databases, and therefore cases cannot currently be linked through from the recording of the incident by the police to sentencing. Due to the time lag between each stage of the criminal justice system, data on referrals, prosecutions and convictions do not necessarily represent the same cohort of cases, and cannot be directly compared.
As domestic abuse (with the exception of coercive and controlling behaviour) is not currently a specific offence in law it is not possible to identify domestic abuse-related cases in sentencing statistics recorded by the Ministry of Justice. Appendix Table 30 published alongside Domestic Abuse in England and Wales, year ending March 2017 shows that there were 58 offenders sentenced for engaging in coercive and controlling behaviour in the year ending December 2016.
Unfortunately, we do not hold any data which identifies deaths by suicide attempts as a result of living in an abusive relationship.
For more information on crime and suicide statistics in Scotland, you may wish to contact Justice Analytical Services at the Scottish Government at JusticeAnalysts@gov.scot, or the National Records of Scotland at statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk.