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SCOTLAND'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE PLAN

CHAPTER THREE: REFORM OF SCOTLAND'S COURTS

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3.1 The courts are the lynchpin of the criminal justice system. In 2003-04 over 127,000 cases were prosecuted in Scottish Courts ⁹. This is a heavy workload. Efficient courts will help us realise our goals of reducing reoffending and protecting Scotland's communities.

3.2 It is essential that the quality of our justice and sentencing is not compromised by over-burdening the courts. More diversion from prosecution for less serious offences will both assist in freeing up court time and provide a more effective and appropriate intervention for minor offenders in many cases. But this in itself will not be sufficient. We must also improve the current structure and working processes of our courts if we are to ensure modern, effective delivery of justice. Court reform represents a major plank in our overall reform of the criminal justice system. Our goal is a court process which:

• Deals with accused people fairly, always respecting their human rights;
• Takes the interests of victims and witnesses properly into account;
• Deals with cases as quickly as possible to reduce the opportunity for reoffending before the original offence has been dealt with and to maintain the link between offending behaviour and punishment;
• Disposes of cases effectively - so that justice is seen to be done;
• Uses resources efficiently - ensuring value for every public pound; and
• Is in touch with the needs and views of local communities and local people.

3.3 We have already legislated to reform the High Court, and to ensure that it can focus on its proper role, dealing with the most serious crime and the most difficult points of law. Now it is time to concentrate on summary justice, the business of the lower courts, and introduce further reforms to ensure that we have an efficient service, that deals with offenders fairly and effectively and fully supports victims and witnesses.

What we have done

3.4 Improving the way the court system works

• We have increased the base funding of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) by 42% to support the most far reaching and radical process of reform and modernisation in the Department's history. The Department has invested to improve the preparation and conduct of serious cases, bolster support for vulnerable victims and witnesses of crime, improve the handling of racist crime and streamline and improve processes across the board.
• We have initiated a continuing process of operational improvements within the Scottish Court Service. The percentage of summary criminal cases disposed of within 20 weeks has risen from 80% in 2002-03 to 84% ⁹ now, while the number of cases has continued to grow.
• We have supported the integration of criminal justice information systems through the ISCJIS project so that IT can be fully exploited in improving case handling and management information across all agencies.
• We have established a National Criminal Justice System Board. The National Board has membership from the key criminal justice services and is concerned with efficiency issues at national level. It has also focused on the development of local criminal justice boards and the provision of management information which will inform and help improve the work of criminal justice agencies at local and national level.
• We have piloted two local criminal justice boards bringing the Procurator Fiscal, the Chief Constable and the Sheriff Court together at local level, under judicial chairmanship. Local boards are concerned with efficiency in the handling of cases at local level, identifying blockages and streamlining local arrangements. The pilot period (which concluded at the end of June 2004) provided positive evidence of the impact of collaborative working at the local level. The local boards have brought about real improvements, breaking down boundaries between agencies and promoting a whole system culture. We have commenced a roll-out of local boards across Scotland, due to be completed by Spring 2005.

3.5 Supporting victims and witnesses

• We have supported victim and witness services. This included:
  • Victim Support Scotland to deliver local victim support services and the court based Witness Service (3.3m); and
  • The COPFS Victim Information and Advice (VIA) Service, now extended to all 11 Procurator Fiscal areas. This service keeps victims and witnesses up-to-date with what is happening in their cases and provides them with the chance to discuss issues that concern them. (1.3m)
• We have made it a statutory provision that victims of serious crimes have the right to be notified about the release of offenders and be able to make representations to the Parole Board before it makes decisions on releasing prisoners.
• We have protected victims of sexual offences from intrusive questioning in court by preventing the accused from conducting their own defence in these cases through implementing the Sexual Offences (Procedures and Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2002.
• We are piloting the victim statement scheme - victims can tell the court in their own words what the impact of a crime has been.
• The COPFS has issued revised guidance for prosecutors to help ensure that they are able to respond appropriately to the needs of victims and witnesses.

3.6 Special support for child and vulnerable witnesses

• We have acted on the recommendations of the Lord Advocate's Working Group on Child Witness Support Report to:
  • Reduce stress for child and adult vulnerable witnesses by removing the need for dock identifications where there has been a previous identification. The introduction of VIPER - Video Identification Parades Electronic Recording will assist this significantly; and
  • Published the Child Witness Support Guidance Pack which includes guidance on the investigative interviewing of child witnesses and on questioning children in court. Guidance has also been published on conducting pre-trial court familiarisation visits for child witnesses. Precognition agents working for the defence will, following legislation by the Westminster Parliament, be regulated by the Security Industry Authority requiring a licence based on criminality checks and training.

What we are doing

3.7 Modernising the High Court

• We are implementing measures to improve operation of the High Court through The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2004 supported by major changes in prosecution practice. The reforms are designed to streamline processes, give the defence more time to prepare their case and improve the experience of victims and witnesses. Victims and witnesses will benefit, because:
  • All procedural matters are now to be dealt with at a preliminary hearing before the trial, at which they do not have to be present. Applications for special measures to help vulnerable witnesses give their best evidence will also be dealt with at this hearing;
  • The Court will take greater management control of the case. The preliminary hearing is designed to allow the Court to ensure that the parties in a case are ready to go to trial. The Court will set the trial date, but will only do so when satisfied that the parties are ready. So there should be far fewer adjourned trials; and
  • The reforms introduce fixed trial diets for most cases, so that victims and witnesses are clear when they have to come to court.
• The defence will have more time to prepare their case, because:
  • The prosecution will share the evidence it has obtained with the defence at an early stage; and
  • The Crown will still have to serve an indictment within 80 days of full committal, but the 110 day custody time limit will run to the preliminary hearing, with the trial date a maximum of 30 days thereafter.

3.8 More defence preparation time will reduce the likelihood of adjournments with the distress and inconvenience these cause to victims and witnesses.

3.9 A more just system for victims and witnesses

• We are implementing changes brought about through the Vulnerable Witness (Scotland) Act 2004. The Act:
  • Gives automatic entitlement to standard special measures (screens, supporters, live CCTV link) to all child witnesses under 16;
  • Presumes that child witnesses under 12 will not have to give evidence in court, but outside court, in certain cases;
  • Widens the definition of a vulnerable witness to include those whose ability to give evidence may be diminished by fear and distress;
  • Gives statutory effect to the provision of special measures in the High and Sheriff Courts for child and adult vulnerable witnesses in both criminal and civil cases with the objective of ensuring that they are able to give their best evidence; and
  • Strengthens protection of vulnerable witnesses by prohibiting the accused from conducting their own defence in certain types of cases.
• We will be extending the Victim Statement Scheme following evaluation of the pilots.

3.10 A better system of legal aid

• We are pursuing a programme of modernising the provision of legal aid based upon the core principles of:
  • Fair reward for work done;
  • Promoting quality assurance across the range of legal aid; and
  • Promoting value for money in the use of taxpayer's money.

What we will do

3.11 Scotland's Summary Courts deal with over 95% of criminal cases. There are two separate courts with jurisdiction in summary cases - the District Court and the Sheriff Court. Summary cases may be heard by one or more lay justices in the District Court or by a Sheriff sitting without a jury. In Glasgow there are special arrangements where District Court cases can be heard by a professional stipendiary magistrate. Sheriffs (and stipendiary magistrates) have higher sentencing powers than lay justices.

3.12 Summary courts deal with offences which are not serious enough to be heard by a judge sitting with a jury, although these crimes will have very real consequences for victims. They are intended to provide a swift and effective response to less serious offending. Following a wide ranging review, we will take forward a programme of work to reform our summary courts.

3.13 We will continue to develop policies that will consolidate and broaden the progress already made in supporting the needs of victims and witnesses.

Improving Summary Justice

3.14 Ministers established the Summary Justice Review Committee in late 2001. The Committee's Report, published on 16 March 2004 ¹⁰, is the result of a 2-year review carried out by a group of experts, chaired by Sheriff Principal John McInnes. The report made a number of far-reaching recommendations aimed at reforming our criminal courts, increasing the speed and efficiency of court processes and improving all aspects of the criminal justice system dealing with less serious offences.

3.15 The report raised a number of major, and sometimes contentious, issues - which have generated a range of views in consultation following its publication. We are looking hard at the views submitted, all of which will be taken into account as we take decisions on the way ahead. From this base of evidence and opinions we are determined to introduce reform. Reform that will:

• Make the courts work more efficiently avoiding unnecessary inconvenience for witnesses and others;
• Speed up the handling of cases to confront offenders swiftly with the consequences of their actions; and
• Remove from court, those cases that can better be dealt with through alternatives to prosecution, building on the existing effective arrangements for doing so.

3.16 Following the McInnes report, we are considering a strengthened package of alternatives to prosecution comprising a range of penalties:

• Increased levels of fiscal fine (combined with better enforcement procedures) and an extension to the use of fixed penalties in appropriate areas;
• The introduction of a fiscal compensation order - particularly in instances where the level of damage is clearly quantifiable from available evidence;
• Greater use of non-financial alternatives to prosecution - including diversion to support services which can often tackle the root cause of an individual's offending; and
• Proposals that a prosecutor should have available the option to fine an individual's time in cases where an accused may not be willing or able to take up the offer of a fiscal fine (e.g. due to financial constraints).

3.17 We also intend to make systematic improvements to the process of getting a case to court and in handling its court stages. We seek greater speed and a reduction in wasted effort - particularly on the part of witnesses.

3.18 We are currently modelling the potential impact of the McInnes proposals to check that they will have the desired result, to assess affordability and to ensure that they will not have unwanted side effects. Early in 2005 we will consult further on a number of key areas, including the nature and role of the judges who sit in the summary court.

3.19 In the lifetime of this Parliament we intend to reform the structure and processes of summary justice, through legislation where that is required. More detailed proposals for reform will be published in advance of that legislation.

Specialist Courts

3.20 We are at the forefront of piloting the use of specialist courts to address particular categories of offending that damage communities - or where the circumstances of the offender are a major factor in his or her offending behaviour. Specialist drug courts and youth courts develop knowledge and understanding of particular offender groups. In October 2004 a pilot domestic abuse court, based at Glasgow Sheriff Court, sat for the first time. In parallel, a support service has been established to help victims before and after the case has gone through the specialist court.

• We will build upon the developments of the drugs and youth courts and disseminate the lessons learned more widely.
• We are evaluating domestic abuse courts.

3.21 Ongoing reforms to assist victims and witnesses

We will also continue with the work already begun to ensure effective support for victims and witnesses, so that our criminal system serves the needs of victims and witnesses and not the offender.

• We will publish guidance on how therapy should be best provided to child witnesses before and during a trial.
• We will pilot vulnerable witness officers before considering how best to develop a national service.
• We are reviewing the Scottish Strategy for Victims to ensure that the policies and actions of all those who support victims are meeting needs in a rapidly changing justice system.
• We will ensure that victims know what to expect from the contact they have with the Criminal Justice Agencies by publishing national standards of service for victims affected by the criminal justice system.
• We will track the impact of what we are doing for victims and witnesses, and identify opportunities for continuous improvements by developing effective monitoring and evaluation systems.

3.22 Compensation and support for victims of crime

• We will explore the potential for imposing a financial surcharge on all those convicted of an offence and using the sums raised to help the victims of crime.
• We will examine ways in which we can encourage the greater use by the courts of compensation orders, to include circumstances where victims have suffered mental distress as well as physical loss or injury.

Conclusions

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