« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM OBJECTIVES REVIEW
PROPOSALS FOR THE INTEGRATION OF AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS IN THE SCOTTISH CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
PART I : INTRODUCTION
1 THE REVIEW
SETTING UP THE REVIEW
1.1 In March 2002 I was asked to undertake a project for the Lord Advocate and the Deputy First Minister (as Minister for Justice) for the integration of the objectives of the various elements of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) in Scotland. The scope of the Review was discussed with the Scottish Executive Criminal Justice Liaison Group and the Review was formally commissioned and its terms of reference agreed by Ministers at the end of March 2002.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
1.2 The terms of reference for the Review are:
Having appropriate regard to the interests of justice, to make proposals for the integration of the aims, objectives and targets of the principal agencies which make up the criminal justice system in Scotland, in order to ensure the more efficient, effective and joined-up operation of the system and to secure delivery of the criminal justice priorities of the Scottish Executive.
1.3 As regards scope, the agreed approach was to look at joining up objectives and targets for the various agencies in the system within a framework of overarching aims and objectives, supported by an appropriate cross-system planning, monitoring and management structure. In the time available the Review was to concentrate on the operation of the system from offence to disposal and would not cover effectiveness of disposals. For the purposes of this exercise, the 'principal agencies' of the Criminal Justice System are the police, prosecution and court services.
1.4 The timetable initially set for the project envisaged a duration of approximately six months. During the course of the Review Ministers approved a revised completion date of the end of October 2002, to enable additional research to be carried out, as agreed in consultation with the project Reference Group (see below). In the event slight further slippage occurred to accommodate a final meeting of the Reference Group.
REVIEW TEAM
1.5 In undertaking the project I was ably assisted by Anne Marie Hicks, Solicitor, Crown Office Policy Group and Ian Clark, Researcher, Scottish Executive Social Research. Their commitment and contributions were greatly appreciated and belied the part-time basis of their working arrangements.
1.6 I am grateful too for the valuable support and assistance that was also provided by Jan Donaldson and colleagues in the Crown Office Quality and Practice Review Unit and by the SE Justice Department Secretariat.
REFERENCE GROUP
1.7 Ministers approved the setting up of a Reference Group of senior representatives of the relevant agencies of the Criminal Justice System and the judiciary, to provide advice and assistance to the Review. Jim Gallagher, Head of the Justice Department of the Scottish Executive, chaired the Group. The full membership of the Reference Group was:
Jim Gallagher, Head of Justice Department, Chair
Micheline Brannan, Head of Criminal Justice Group, Justice Department
Andrew Brown QPM, Chief Constable, Grampian Police
Alastair Dunlop QC, Sheriff Principal of Tayside, Central and Fife
John Ewing, Chief Executive, Scottish Court Service (SCS)
Norman McFadyen CBE, Crown Agent Designate, COPFS.
1.8 The Reference Group met on five occasions during the period of the Review. It provided advice about individuals and organisations that might be consulted. Members supplied factual information about their respective agencies and approved and facilitated the involvement of their staff in Focus Groups. The Reference Group offered useful and constructive comments and suggestions on emerging findings as the project progressed and latterly on my draft report.
1.9 I am very grateful to the members of the Reference Group for their time, advice and assistance throughout this Review. Given the cross-system purpose of the Review, it was very useful to have a perspective from these senior representatives of the principal agencies and the judiciary, and to be able to draw on their substantial experience and expertise. I believe their involvement has helped to ensure the Report is soundly-based. It should be noted, however, that the Reference Group was an advisory, not a steering group, and the Report produced is entirely my responsibility.
OTHER REVIEWS
1.10 A number of other important Reviews covering areas of interest were in progress while this Review was being carried out and a further Review of significance to this exercise had just been completed. These were as follows:
- Review of Summary Justice by Sheriff Principal McInnes - set up by the Minister for Justice in September 2001.
- The Review of the High Court by the Hon. Lord Bonomy - commissioned by the Minister for Justice in November 2001.
- The Pryce/Dyer Review of the Planning, Allocation and Management of Resources in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service - reported to the Lord Advocate and myself (as Crown Agent) end February 2002.
- The Crown Office Quality and Practice Review Unit Review of COPFS Systems for the Processing, Preparation and Prosecution of High Court cases - reported to the Lord Advocate June 2002.
1.11 Account has been taken of the work of these other Reviews and consultation has taken place with those conducting the concurrent Reviews, in order to avoid inappropriate overlap or duplication.
CONDUCT OF THE REVIEW
1.12 The conduct of the Review involved four principal components:
- Collection and review of relevant documentation.
- Meetings with a range of senior representatives of relevant organisations in Scotland.
- Focus Groups involving staff from the police, prosecution and court services.
- Meetings with senior CJS representatives in England and Northern Ireland and attendance at a major national conference on Joining up Justice in Birmingham.
1.13 I also drew on information from a study visit to the Swedish Prosecution Service shortly before the start of the project.
Collection and Review of Documentation
1.14 A wide range of documentation, published and unpublished, was obtained and considered. In addition to published plans, reports and other documentation of relevant Scottish CJS bodies, access was kindly permitted to certain unpublished internal documentation from some of these bodies. Members of the Reference Group supplied further material. Access was also given to the responses to the March 2002 Consultation Paper on First Order Issues of the McInnes Review of Summary Justice in Scotland. I am grateful to Sheriff Principal McInnes and his Review Secretariat for their assistance. In addition to Scottish material, a number of other relevant publications and materials were considered, relating to the Criminal Justice Systems in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Sweden.
Meetings
1.15 Useful information was gathered during a number of meetings with senior representatives from a range of relevant organisations. These included not only the principal agencies, namely the police, prosecution and courts, but also a number of other agencies and bodies with an involvement or interest in the CJS in Scotland. In relation to the principal agencies, meetings were held with two individual Chief Constables, and I also attended a meeting of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) Council, at which all Chief Constables were either present or represented. Informal discussions with Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMCIC) were also useful. The Chief Executive and Crown Agent Designate were consulted from the COPFS, as the sole prosecution authority in Scotland, together with the Director of the Victim Information and Advice Service (VIA). I met the Chief Executive and senior officials of the principal courts agency - the SCS. The District Courts also form an important part of the CJS in Scotland and in the absence of any national court service for the District Courts members of the voluntary representative body, the District Courts Association, were consulted by group meetings with District Court Clerks and JPs. As mentioned, meetings were also held with senior representatives of other bodies or organisations in or associated with the CJS in Scotland, including the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society, and with those conducting other criminal justice Reviews, namely Lord Bonomy, Sheriff Principal McInnes and the Head of the Crown Office Quality and Practice Review Unit. I also had a meeting with the Lord Justice Clerk. Annex A lists the organisations/people I met.
Focus Groups
1.16 In consultation with the Reference Group, it was agreed that, in addition to meetings with senior management, there would be merit in consulting operational level staff from the principal agencies. Focus Groups were accordingly arranged and an independent consultant, Simon Anderson of NFO System Three Social Research, was engaged to conduct these and thereafter to analyse and report his findings. Two intra-agency Focus Groups were held with operational staff and managers from each of the principal agencies, namely the police, COPFS and SCS. In addition, two tripartite groups were held, involving representatives from the three services. I am very appreciative of the time given and assistance provided by all those who took part in the Focus Groups and the other group meetings.
Meetings with Senior Representatives of the CJS in England and N. Ireland
1.17 I had valuable opportunities to collect information about important, relevant developments in the other U.K. jurisdictions, in meetings with senior colleagues in London and Belfast. This is dealt with more fully below. I also obtained further information about developments and plans in England and Wales at a recent national conference on Joining up Justice in Birmingham.
STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT
1.18 The chapters of the report present the material in sections that set out introductory and background information, research findings from Scotland, findings from other (principally U.K.) jurisdictions and then conclusions and recommendations. Supplementary material, including the consultant's report, is contained in a number of annexes.
2 BACKGROUND TO THE REVIEW
2.1 The importance of cross-system liaison in the Criminal Justice System in Scotland has been recognised at senior official level in the Scottish administration for many years. Regular meetings have been held of a group of senior officials from the main criminal justice departments and agencies of the former Scottish Office (now the Scottish Executive) and from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). The group has been known as the Criminal Justice Liaison Group. (I have been a member for six years.)
2.2 When the cross-system Criminal Justice Forum (see below) was set up in 1996 its original remit included improving the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the Scottish Criminal Justice System, and work on efficiency was undertaken by sub-groups of the Forum. (I was a member of the Forum and of one of the sub-groups.) Following a report by one of the sub-groups (the Efficiency Task Group) in April 1998, Ministers decided that the Criminal Justice Liaison Group (CJLG) should assume responsibility for efficiency issues including monitoring progress in taking forward recommendations of the Efficiency Task Group. Work thereafter continued in the CJLG, or under its supervision.
2.3 In the course of its earlier work consideration had also been given by the CJLG to issues of improved integration and the possibility of having overarching aims and objectives for the CJS in Scotland, but initial work on a relevant framework was not carried forward at that time. More recently, important developments in the Criminal Justice Systems in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, with major Reviews and Initiatives (described more fully below), were followed closely and noted with considerable interest. The possibility of carrying out similar work in Scotland was considered, but not initially progressed.
2.4 The remit of the Pryce/Dyer Management Review of the COPFS (referred to above) included a direction to the Review Team in carrying out its review of management arrangements "to have regard to the relationships between the COPFS and other agencies in the criminal justice system with the aim of improving joined-up working across the system…". The Review Team investigated relationships with partner agencies and explored ways to encourage joined-up partnership working across the system. Relevant findings and recommendations were reported in the February 2002 Report of the Review. Communication between partner agencies was identified as a major problem and other issues identified were lack of understanding of each other's business and lack of common purpose between agencies.
2.5 It was against the foregoing background that Ministers asked me to undertake this Review.
« Previous | Contents | Next »