Additional Context

The number of warrants issued by the courts over the past few years have increased significantly, with the percentage of failure to appear warrants being 62% of all warrants received by Police Scotland January – October 2025.

It is generally accepted that less people are attending court than pre-pandemic, resulting in increases in fail to appear warrants across trials and other court business.

Increases in warrants, in particular failure to appear warrants, is likely due to a range of factors including social instability, misunderstanding of court dates or indeed deliberate avoidance.

This may include a lack of secure, stable housing, poverty, mental health issues and addiction issues. The complex needs and challenges faced by many people who commit criminality all contributes to less people attending court.

This also needs to be considered against the greater use of alternatives to remand and prison sentences, for example, a more robust test in legislation for a person to be remanded and greater use of electronic bail monitoring. This will lead to more reporting of offences for example breach of bail and other criminality, which means more cases entering the criminal justice system and thereafter more warrants being issued.

Another key factor for the failure to appear is assessed to relate to the fact that individuals are not provided with a consistent form of reminder to attend court which reflects and takes account of the needs and lifestyles of many people who commit criminality.