Demographics of the Accused

Demographic breakdown of 3,219 individuals accused of witchcraft in Scotland. Many records have incomplete data; charts show only those with recorded values.

Gender (3,170 of 3,219 recorded)
Marital Status (736 of 3,219 recorded)
Socioeconomic Status (362 of 3,219 recorded)
Occupations (101 of 3,219 recorded)
OccupationCount
Vagabond23
Servant23
Midwife9
Weaver8
Miller3
Farmer2
School teacher2
Minister2
Smith2
Nurse2
Merchant2
Messenger2
Shop-keeper2
Tailor2
Workman1
Mealmaker1
Sailor1
Blacksmith1
Slaterer1
Cook1
Loadman1
Henwife1
Healer1
Collier1
Fisherman1
Brewster1
Maltman1
Stabler1
School Master1
Tasker1
Creelman1
Gender
GenderCount%
Female2,70283.9%
Male46814.5%
Not recorded491.5%
Marital Status
StatusCount%
Not recorded2,48377.1%
Married57517.9%
Widowed1404.3%
Single160.5%
Unknown30.1%
Irregular union20.1%
Socioeconomic Status
StatusCount%
Not recorded2,85788.8%
Middling2317.2%
Lower722.2%
Very Poor180.6%
Landless160.5%
Upper160.5%
Lairds/Baron50.2%
Nobility/Chiefs40.1%

Gender & Punishment

Sentence outcomes for 259 female and 44 male trials with recorded sentences. Chart shows percentages to allow fair comparison between groups.

Sentence by Gender (% of each gender’s trials)
Verdicts by Gender
VerdictFemaleMale
Guilty 206 (79.8%) 29 (74.4%)
Not Guilty 37 (14.3%) 8 (20.5%)
Not Proven 9 (3.5%) 1 (2.6%)
Half Guilty 6 (2.3%) 1 (2.6%)
Sentences by Gender
SentenceFemale% of FMale% of M
Execution 17567.6% 2761.4%
Released 4015.4% 1125.0%
Banishment 2610.0% 12.3%
Declared Fugitive 103.9% 12.3%
Excommunicated 62.3% 00.0%
Put to the horn 00.0% 24.5%
Branded 10.4% 00.0%
Public Humiliation 10.4% 00.0%
Hang 00.0% 12.3%
Prison 00.0% 12.3%
Total 259100% 44100%

Social Status & Punishment

Outcomes for 84 trials where both socioeconomic status and sentence were recorded. Notably, those of highest rank — Nobility/Chiefs and Lairds — were never found guilty.

Sentence by Social Status (% of each group’s trials)
Verdicts by Social Status
StatusGuiltyNot Guiltyn
Nobility/Chiefs 0 (0%) 3 3
Lairds/Baron 0 (0%) 1 1
Upper 7 (100%) 0 7
Middling 34 (87%) 5 39
Lower 16 (80%) 3 +1 half 20
Landless 2 (100%) 0 2
Very Poor 6 (86%) 1 7
Sentences by Social Status
Sentence Lairds/BaronUpperMiddlingLowerLandlessVery Poor
Execution 0 (0%) 6 (75%) 31 (70%) 15 (75%) 2 (67%) 4 (50%)
Released 0 (0%) 1 (13%) 12 (27%) 3 (15%) 1 (33%) 1 (13%)
Banishment 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (2%) 1 (5%) 0 (0%) 1 (13%)
Put to the horn 1 (100%) 1 (13%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Excommunicated 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Hang 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (13%)
Prison 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (13%)
Total 18442038

Torture, Confession & Verdict

Of 3,211 trials, 52 involved torture and 756 involved confession. 22 had both. The chart below shows how torture and confession affected the likelihood of a guilty verdict.

Guilty Rate by Evidence Type
Verdict Breakdown
CategoryTrialsGuiltyNot GuiltyOtherGuilty %
Neither 2,425 128 38 17 69.9% (n=183)
Torture only 30 2 0 1 66.7% (n=3)
Confession only 734 100 6 0 94.3% (n=106)
Torture + Confession 22 6 1 0 85.7% (n=7)
“Guilty %” is calculated from trials with a recorded verdict (n). Most trials lack recorded verdicts.
Did torture lead to confession?
42.3%

of tortured trials had a confession

22 of 52 trials

vs
23.2%

of non-tortured trials had a confession

734 of 3,159 trials

Those who were tortured were nearly twice as likely to have a recorded confession. However, this may partly reflect more thorough record-keeping in cases involving torture, rather than a purely causal link.