How we check this content

Be Crime Wise guides are written in plain English from primary sources, mainly legislation.gov.uk, the Scottish Government and mygov.scot, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, the Scottish Sentencing Council, the Scottish Legal Aid Board and Disclosure Scotland. Every figure that can change (time limits, maximum penalties, thresholds, rehabilitation periods, penalty points) is checked against the official source rather than general knowledge.

Our approach

Each guide was researched against current legislation and official guidance, then checked a second time, separately, by a reviewer looking for errors, out-of-date figures and reforms described as being in force when they are not. Where a new law has been passed but has not yet started, we say so plainly.

Answers aim to be accurate about the difference between what the law requires you to do, what police are legally allowed to do, and what police may simply ask. Being accurate about your rights also means being accurate about real legal duties.

Scots law is different

Scotland has its own criminal law, courts, prosecutor and procedure. Our Scotland guides are written from Scottish sources only, and where a rule differs from England and Wales (for example, there is no rule allowing a court to draw an adverse inference from silence at a police interview, and corroboration is still generally required) we say so.

Keeping it current

Criminal law changes often. We record reforms and updates on our recent changes page, and each page shows the date the law was last checked. All sources are listed on our sources page.

Since October 2026 the official pages behind the questions and answers on each guide are also checked automatically. Every night a small program re-reads a few of the 41 pages we rely on, on a rota: the Scottish Sentencing Council’s approved guidelines, the stop-and-search Code of Practice consultation and mygov.scot’s disclosure types about once a week; the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act as it applies in Scotland, the 2024 and 2025 Acts on children and on victims and witnesses, the Lord Advocate’s guidelines, COPFS, SLAB, PIRC, the Scottish Courts and the drink-driving regulations about once a month. If a page has changed in a way that affects an answer, a suggested rewrite is put in front of the editor. Nothing is published automatically: only wording the editor has approved appears on a guide, marked “Updated” with the date, and each guide shows when its pages were last checked. The offence-by-offence pages are not part of the automatic check.

Calculators and tools

The spent convictions checker, the penalty points calculator and the step-by-step process guide use the same checked rules. They give general estimates only. Real cases can involve extra factors, such as further convictions or orders, that change the result.

Limitations

This content is general legal information, not legal advice, and it doesn't consider your individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for advice from a qualified solicitor. If you have been arrested or are being interviewed by police, you have the right to free legal advice.

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