According to recent figures released following a Freedom of Information request, approximately 180,000 people were prosecuted in England and Wales for watching television without a licence, but only 32 such cases ended up in the Scottish courts.
The figures, from 2012, reveal that almost 3,500 people appeared before Magistrates’ Courts in England and Wales each week for not having a TV licence, which was equivalent to one in ten UK court cases.
Almost 155,000 were convicted and fined, and a number also went to prison.
The figures are starkly contrasted by those for Scotland, where nobody has been jailed for the crime for over five years, chiefly because of a Scottish law that prevents people from being sent to prison for failing to pay a fine worth less than £500.
Support to end criminal punishments for failure to pay the £145.50 TV licence fee has been shown by political figures, with Prime Minister David Cameron being among those that have argued to scrap the fee which funds the BBC.
While there are supporters of the TV licence in Parliament, Justice Secretary Michael Gove and Commons leader Chris Grayling have argued that decriminalising the offence would mean that courts across the UK would have more time to deal with other cases.
Following the latest news, there have been renewed calls from campaigners for criminal penalties, which are uniquely connected to the TV licence, to be dropped.
Many claim that it is unfair how other bills – such as those for gas and electricity – cannot result in a criminal penalty for the individual that fails to pay.