DOCSLIB.ORG

Report No 566/05

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Report No 566/05 REPORT NO 566/05 ANGUS COUNCIL STRATEGIC POLICY COMMITTEE – 10 MAY 2005 REVIEW OF SUMMARY JUSTICE – SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE’S PROPOSALS REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR OF LAW & ADMINISTRATION ABSTRACT This Report advises members of the Scottish Executive’s proposals in relation to the previous consultation document on the Review of Summary Justice. 1. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the Committee notes the proposals. 2. BACKGROUND Reference is made to Report 814/04 which advised members of the consultation being undertaken by the Scottish Executive in connection with the Review of Summary Justice and proposed responses thereto on behalf of the Council. The Scottish Executive have now issued a document entitled “Smarter Justice, Safer Communities – Summary Justice Reform – Next Steps”. This document contains the Scottish Executive’s proposals on how reform of Summary Justice will be implemented and this Report advises members of the implications of those proposals for Angus Council. Members will recall that Angus Council is responsible for running the District Court within the Commission Area of Angus (which includes the whole county). Although there is one District Court within the Angus Commission Area, it sits in three separate locations, namely in Arbroath on a weekly basis each Friday, in Forfar on the first Wednesday of each month and in Brechin on the third Wednesday of each month. Due to pressure of accommodation within Forfar Sheriff Court because of sittings of the High Court, for approximately three years the Forfar District Court has sat in Brechin on the first Monday of each month. The type of offences which are referred by the Procurator Fiscal to this Court include many of the driving offences including speeding, other road traffic offences, breach of the peace, assaults, all failures to pay fixed penalties offered by the Fiscal and other less serious offences. The volume of work of the District Court is such that the Department of Law and Administration employs three full time equivalent administrators (currently five members of staff), and the legal advice provided to the Justices of the Peace, including training, if condensed into one post would be equivalent to a full time Solicitor. In 2002 the Scottish Executive announced that it would review the whole of Summary Justice which includes not only the District Court but also the High Court and Sheriff Court throughout Scotland. Summary Justice accounts for approximately 96% of criminal court business with over 130,000 cases being dealt with each year. The purpose of the review was to ensure that the court procedural system was as efficient as possible, to minimise delays and streamline the existing system to ensure that justice provides a fair and appropriate response across the whole Summary Justice system. In 2004 the Summary Justice Review Committee published its report and many of the recommendations of the report do not affect the running of the District Court. However, the following proposals are highlighted as being relevant in this regard. 3. PROPOSALS 2 3.1 Lay Justices will continue to exist to carry out Court business within their current powers. They will be appointed for a fixed term period of five years which will be capable of renewal until the age of 70. All training of lay Justices will be undertaken on a national basis. The current Justices of the Peace Advisory Committees will be replaced by a new Advisory Committee for each Sheriffdom chaired by the Sheriff Principal and will include representatives from active lay Justices and the wider community. Justices will require to be appraised regularly and signing Justices will be retained, although a separate name to distinguish between signing Justices and bench Justices is being considered. 3.2 The District Court will be unified within the rest of the Summary administration and this will be phased in across Scotland on a Sheriffdom by Sheriffdom basis. The Scottish Executive believe that unification will not reduce the number of locations for businesses conducted within Scotland and a unified system will take account of the needs of victims, witnesses and the communities within which they are located. The Scottish Executive accepts that further work requires to be carried out on such matters as costs, estates, staffing and IT as all of these issues are at present managed on a very separate basis. As unification proceeds, the administration of all fines imposed in and collected by the unified summary criminal courts will become the responsibility of the Scottish Courts service. A working group will look at the efficiency of fine collection and pilot projects of new approaches to collect fines will be undertaken within the course of this Parliament. 3.3 The Scottish Executive believe that a greater number of alternatives to prosecution should be made available to Procurators Fiscal prior to commencement of court proceedings. Fixed Penalty Notices will be further extended and the anti-social behaviour pilot scheme will be monitored but the option remains to roll out the use of Fixed Penalties in connection with ASBOs to a greater extent. Fiscal fines will be increased to a maximum of £500 (presently £100). Fiscal Compensation Orders will be increased to £5,000. Some technical changes will be made to the collection of Fiscal Compensation Orders and Fiscal fines which will include discounts for timeous payment, registration of the fine on failure to make payment and removing the obligation to collect part paid Fiscal fines by civil diligence. Details of previously accepted Fiscal fines will also be provided by prosecutors in Court for a period of two years after imposition of the penalty. 3.4 A new Community Fiscal fine will be introduced where reparation to the community is appropriate rather than a financial penalty. These Community Fiscal fines will be the further subject of consultation. 3.5 To enhance better case management, the Scottish Executive proposes to introduce a number of measures to speed up Summary Justice including sentences taking into account the stage at which an accused intimates his intention to plead guilty, the non reporting by the police to the Procurator Fiscal of certain minor offences, and the piloting of the use of restorative police warnings for young people who have committed minor offences. In addition a number of other issues will be implemented including raising the maximum fine from £5,000 to £10,000 for a Sheriff, the implementation of targets and goals to measure the length of time from detection to disposal of a crime, increased use in electronic documentation, greater use of trial in absence procedures and greater protection for vulnerable witnesses. 4. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS There are no financial implications arising from this Report and any financial implications arising from the implementation of the recommendations will be brought forward to Committee in a subsequent Report. 5. HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLICATIONS There are no human rights implications arising from this Report. 6. CONSULTATION The Chief Executive and Director of Finance have been consulted on the preparation of this Report. f:\committee reports\strategic policy\2005\566.rtf 3 7. CONCLUSION The proposals outlined by the Executive will have radical implications for the Council staff involved in providing the current service. However, the Executive considers that incorporating the District Court into the existing Sheriff Court administration could produce benefits by creating a more streamlined approach to the whole administration of Justice. Much consideration requires to be given to issues of accommodation, staff transfers and the integration of IT systems before amalgamation will be successful. CATHERINE A COULL Director of Law and Administration NOTE: No background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (other than any containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to any material extent in preparing the above Report. f:\committee reports\strategic policy\2005\566.rtf .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19) Data Report: January 2021
    This publication will be available in accessible HTML on the gov.scot website. Justice Analytical Services Coronavirus (COVID-19) Data Report: January 2021 Published 25th February 2021 Summary This pack provides information on the impact of COVID-19 on the Justice system during January 2021. Data has been gathered from a number of different sources and may be subject to future revision. Public compliance This pack includes information on COVID-19 related interventions undertaken by Police Scotland. In addition to this, information on the public’s compliance with measures to help restrict the spread of COVID-19 is collected from surveys of the population. Findings from these surveys can be found in the Public attitudes to Coronavirus: January Update. Claimed compliance was high in November and December. Police activity Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), Courts & Prisons COPFS greatly reduced the Recorded crime was 6% lower over number of reports awaiting marking April 2020 to January 2021 January 2021. compared to the preceding year. To reduce footfall in lockdown, the The number of incidents remain majority of summary business was below 2020 levels. adjourned on 12th January. Domestic abuse incidents were 4% Community disposals were higher in April 2020 to January returning to 19-20 levels but there 2021 compared to the preceding remains a backlog of cases (and year. associated disposals) to conclude. Coronavirus interventions Initiations and disposals in the civil increased by 43% between court remain below 19-20 levels. December 2020 and January 2021. Prison populations decreased slightly as court business abated. The number of prisoners on remand remain at historically high levels.
    [Show full text]
  • An Overview of Scotland's Criminal Justice System
    An overview of Scotland’s criminal justice system Prepared for the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission September 2011 Auditor General for Scotland The Auditor General for Scotland is the Parliament’s watchdog for helping to ensure propriety and value for money in the spending of public funds. He is responsible for investigating whether public spending bodies achieve the best possible value for money and adhere to the highest standards of financial management. He is independent and not subject to the control of any member of the Scottish Government or the Parliament. The Auditor General is responsible for securing the audit of the Scottish Government and most other public sector bodies except local authorities and fire and police boards. The following bodies fall within the remit of the Auditor General: • directorates of the Scottish Government • government agencies, eg the Scottish Prison Service, Historic Scotland • NHS bodies • further education colleges • Scottish Water • NDPBs and others, eg Scottish Enterprise. The Accounts Commission The Accounts Commission is a statutory, independent body which, through the audit process, requests local authorities in Scotland to achieve the highest standards of financial stewardship and the economic, efficient and effective use of their resources. The Commission has four main responsibilities: • securing the external audit, including the audit of Best Value and Community Planning • following up issues of concern identified through the audit, to ensure satisfactory resolutions • carrying out national performance studies to improve economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local government • issuing an annual direction to local authorities which sets out the range of performance information they are required to publish.
    [Show full text]
  • SEPA Enforcement Report 2015-2016
    SEPA Enforcement Report 2015-2016 SEPA Enforcement Report 2015-20161 Foreword The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) Enforcement Report is an annual publication. The Enforcement Report provides an overview of enforcement action taken by us, summarising how we have deployed the enforcement tools which are available to us to deal with those who have failed to comply with the environmental legislation, which exists to protect Scotland’s environment, local communities and our economy. The enforcement tools available to us have assisted us in delivering a number of successful actions over recent years. This report will be the final report in its current format, which focuses largely on the deployment of Statutory Notices, Final Warning Letters and Reports to the Procurator Fiscal. This is because the range of enforcement tools available to us changed on 1 June 2016, when our new Enforcement Policy came into effect. Our next report will also include details of the way in which SEPA has deployed Fixed Monetary Penalties, Variable Monetary Penalties, Enforcement Undertakings and Non-Compliance Penalties, all of which are now available to us to achieve our outcomes. In comparison to 2014- 2015, SEPA utilised its formal enforcement tools less frequently. You will see more detail of this in Section 1.1.1. During this time, the rates of compliance of those we regulate improved. Section 1.3.2 of the report shows a reduction in the average level of fine imposed by the Scottish Criminal Courts for environmental offences over the last year as well as exploring some background to this, and illustrates the dramatic effect in England of the introduction of Sentencing Guidelines for environmental offences by the English Sentencing Council.
    [Show full text]
  • Margaret Mitchell, MSP Convener of the Justice Committee the Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH99 1SP
    Margaret Mitchell, MSP Convener of the Justice Committee The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH99 1SP By Email: [email protected] 8th July 2020 Dear Convenor, Thank you for your letter of 18 June 2020. I am very glad to provide the follow-up information you have requested after my appearance with the Crown Agent before the Justice Committee on 16 June 2020. 1. The Crown Agent mentioned the work of a group with SPS, Police Scotland and others on custody cases and remote video links. It would be helpful to have more details on the work of this group and when it expects to conclude with an operational service. The group to which the Crown Agent referred is the Virtual Custody Courts group, which is part of a new structure now established under the authority of the Justice Board and led by a Criminal Justice Board on which the chief executives of the key criminal justice organisations sit, to co-ordinate recovery activity in the criminal courts. A number of groups (each one led by a senior member of one of the criminal justice organisations) have been established within that structure to address different aspects of the recovery process. The group dealing with virtual custody courts is led by a senior police officer and the group dealing with virtual trial courts is led by a senior member of the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS). Other groups are focusing on the summary criminal process, community justice and, in due course once the Lord Justice Clerk’s working group has developed a model for jury trials in the High Court, jury trials in the Sheriff Court.
    [Show full text]
  • Police Scotland
    A summary of community options Alternatives to Prosecution Alternatives to Remand Alternatives to Custody Shetland Community Justice Partnership A Summary of Community Options Contents 1. Introduction and Useful Terms ..................................................................................................... 4 o 1.1 Purpose and intended Audience ............................................................................................ 4 o 1.2 Options available ................................................................................................................... 4 o 1.3 Why different options are used – research and evidence ....................................................... 5 o 1.4 Useful terms .......................................................................................................................... 6 2. Information for Victims and Witnesses of Crime .......................................................................... 9 o 2.1 Your rights as a victim or witness ........................................................................................... 9 o 2.2 Information on progress of cases ........................................................................................... 9 o 2.3 Right to information – victims and witnesses ....................................................................... 10 o 2.4 Support for victims and witnesses ....................................................................................... 11 3. Alternatives to Prosecution, Remand and Custody
    [Show full text]
  • Professor Adam Tomkins MSP Convener RNID Typetalk Prefix: 18001 Justice Committee Scottish Parliament DX 540310, Edinburgh 38 EH99 1SP
    Professor Adam Tomkins MSP Convener RNID Typetalk prefix: 18001 Justice Committee Scottish Parliament DX 540310, Edinburgh 38 EH99 1SP Via e-mail: [email protected] 2 September 2020 Dear Convener, FISCAL FINES I refer to my letter to your predecessor of 8 June 2020, describing the operation of fiscal fines under the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act). I confirmed that COPFS would continue to monitor the use of fiscal fines under the 2020 Act, and that I would update the Committee once statistics for June and July 2020 were available. COPFS has produced an updated indicative analysis of relevant marking decisions for cases reported between April and July 2020. Whilst these figures should be understood as first markings only, COPFS has provided, where available, information on final disposals where a paid or accepted fiscal fine has been recorded. It may be helpful, if I set out some general information, by way of context for the statistical information which I set out below, as the Committee will be aware, the “fiscal fine” (technically, a conditional offer of a fixed penalty under section 302 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995) is one of a suite of direct measures which, by statute, may be offered by the procurator fiscal to an accused person. The other direct measures are a fiscal work order, a fiscal compensation offer and a combined fixed penalty and compensation offer. These direct measures are alternatives to prosecution in court, provided that the accused pays the “fiscal fine” or otherwise fulfils the offer. Other European jurisdictions have, in recent times, established analogous regimes for the conditional disposal of cases.
    [Show full text]
  • Letter from the Lord Advocate to the Convener
    Margaret Mitchell, MSP Convener of the Justice Committee The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH99 1SP By Email: [email protected] 8th June 2020 Dear Convener, FISCAL FINES Thank you for your letter of 15 May 2020 in relation to information about the impact of new fiscal fine levels under the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020. It may be useful, firstly, to set fiscal fines within the context of the decision making process by the Procurator Fiscal and secondly, to describe the fiscal fine process itself, as context for the information specifically on the use of this measure at this time. Decision Making Process On receipt of a report alleging that a criminal offence has been committed, Procurators Fiscal must apply the test for prosecutorial action set out in the published Prosecution Code. The first step is to consider whether the report describes a crime known to the law of Scotland. Thereafter, the prosecutor must decide if there is sufficient evidence to establish the essential facts of the case i.e. there must be two sources of evidence which indicate that the crime was committed and that the accused person was the perpetrator. Without sufficient evidence in law, the Procurator Fiscal cannot take prosecutorial action. Finally, assuming that the first two questions are answered affirmatively, the prosecutor must decide what action, if any, best serves the public interest. The factors which require to be taken into account in assessing the public interest will vary according to the circumstances of each case. The published Prosecution Code sets out the factors which, depending on those circumstances, may be considered by the Procurator Fiscal.
    [Show full text]
  • Justice 1 Committee
    CPR 2 Justice 1 Committee Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Bill Written submission from William Young As a respondee to the consultation held on the recommendations of Summary Justice Review Committee I am delighted to be given this opportunity to provide written evidence to express my concerns to a couple of the proposals in this Bill. I do hope that my concerns provide you with an opportunity to ratify changes or deletions to the Bill if you are satisfied that these concerns are justified. Can I start by declaring an interest as a Presiding Justice of the peace for Aberdeen City a former member of the Children’s Panel and a current member of the Children’s Panel advisory Committee. The provisions of the Bill have 8 main policy areas however I only want to comment upon the one area I have concern for, all other areas I consider welcome or appropriate. 1 Alternative to Prosecution Scotland’s proud history of Justice demands that justice is not only done but seen to be done. Justice in my opinion needs to be administered quickly fairly and above all by a Court of Law. The introduction of a “fiscal fine” was a parting of the way as to how Scotland operated its judicial system however I agree and accept that fiscal fines are of benefit to Scotland’s justice system in appropriate and well laid out circumstance’s. Of course only the Lord Advocate and the Fiscal in each Region of Scotland are aware of the guidelines for the use of Fiscal fines.
    [Show full text]
  • Prosecution in the Public Interest
    Prosecution in the Public Interest The Rt. Hon. James Wolffe QC Lord Advocate Apex Scotland Annual Lecture SIGNET LIBRARY 5 SEPTEMBER 2017 APEX SCOTLAND Previous Apex Scotland Annual Lectures have been delivered by: 6 September 2016 9 September 2008 Fraser Kelly Kenny MacAskill Chief Executive, Social Enterprise Scotland Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Richard Jeffrey, The Prisons Commission 1 September 2015 Michael Matheson MSP 11 September 2007 Cabinet Secretary for Justice Professor Wesley Skogan Institute for Policy Research (IPR), 2 September 2014 Northwestern University, Illinois Professor Lesley McAra Co-Director, Edinburgh Study of Youth 12 September 2006 Transitions and Crime, University of Edinburgh The Rt. Hon. Lord Cullen of Whitekirk 3 September 2013 13 September 2005 Sir Stephen House Cathy Jamieson MSP Chief Constable of Police Scotland Justice Minister 4 September 2012 15 September 2004 Jeane Freeman OBE Duncan L Murray WS President of the Law Society of Scotland 6 September 2011 Tam Baillie 16 September 2003 Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and The First Minister, The Rt. Hon. Jack McConnell Young People MSP 7 September 2010 18 May 1998 Baroness Vivien Stern CBE Henry McLeish MP Senior Research Fellow at the International Minister for Home Affairs and Devolution, Centre for Prison Studies King’s College London Scottish Office 8 September 2009 Professor Fergus McNeill Professor of Criminology and Social Work, University of Glasgow ANNUAL LECTURE 2017 Foreword Pierre Trudeau once stated that “the essential Just hours before, the Scottish ingredient of politics is timing”, and we at Apex Scotland Government had announced its intentionally try to align the lecture topic with key issues intention to extend the presumption and moments in the political/justice environment of against short sentences to a year.
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19) Data Report
    This publication will be available in accessible HTML on the gov.scot website Justice Analytical Services Coronavirus (COVID-19) Data Report: November 2020 Published 22nd December 2020 Summary This pack provides information on the impact of COVID-19 on the Justice system during November 2020. Data has been gathered from a number of different sources and may be subject to future revision. Public compliance This pack includes information on COVID-19 related interventions undertaken by Police Scotland. In addition to this, information on the public’s compliance with measures to help restrict the spread of COVID-19 is collected from surveys of the population. Findings from these surveys can be found in the Public attitudes to Coronavirus: November Update. Claimed compliance in Phase 3 has been high. Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Police activity Service (COPFS), Courts & Prisons Total reports received by COPFS are above the 19-20 average. Recorded crime was 6% lower over April to November compared to last COPFS reports awaiting marking year. continue to increase beyond 19-20 levels. The number of incidents remain below 2019 levels. There were 27,872 fewer disposals from courts between April and Domestic abuse incidents were 6% November compared to last year. higher in April to November 2020 compared to last year. Community disposals are returning to 19-20 levels but there remains a Coronavirus interventions backlog of cases (and associated increased by just under a third disposals) to conclude. (31%) between October and November. Initiations and disposals in the civil court remain below 19-20 levels. Prison populations decreased as court business abated.
    [Show full text]
  • Consultation on Decriminalising TV Licence Evasion
    Consultation Response Consultation on decriminalising TV licence evasion 1 April 2020 Introduction The Law Society of Scotland is the professional body for over 11,000 Scottish solicitors. With our overarching objective of leading legal excellence, we strive to excel and to be a world-class professional body, understanding and serving the needs of our members and the public. We set and uphold standards to ensure the provision of excellent legal services and ensure the public can have confidence in Scotland’s solicitor profession. We have a statutory duty to work in the public interest, a duty which we are strongly committed to achieving through our work to promote a strong, varied and effective solicitor profession working in the interests of the public and protecting and promoting the rule of law. We seek to influence the creation of a fairer and more just society through our active engagement with the Scottish and United Kingdom Governments, Parliaments, wider stakeholders and our membership. Our Criminal Law Committee welcomes the opportunity to consider and respond to the UK GOVERNMENT: Consultation on decriminalising TV licence evasion (the consultation). The committee has the following comments to put forward for consideration. General At the outset, it is disappointing to note that this UK wide consultation does not consider in depth the Scottish prosecution position. We note that it makes one scant reference to Scotland and the role of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) at Page 101 of the consultation which cross refers to the Perry Report.1 This is in contrast to Annex E of the consultation which sets out in considerable detail the prosecution position for England and Wales though of course similar, there are a number of differences such as the relevant figures for criminal prosecutions2 which quote those only for England and Wales.
    [Show full text]
  • Decision Making in Cases of Children Jointly Reported to the Procurator Fiscal and Children’S Reporter
    Decision making in cases of children jointly reported to the Procurator Fiscal and Children’s Reporter Revised: November 2015 Second revision: June 2019 1 Introduction 1. To respond appropriately to allegations of crime which are jointly reported to both the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) there must be clear communication between those considering the allegation, a common understanding of how such cases can be dealt with and the timescales involved. When considering allegations of crime committed by children, it is essential that both the Procurator Fiscal and Children’s Reporter involved in the case understand the role of each organisation, the options available and steps required to appropriately deal with the allegations made. 2. This Agreement is binding for those in COPFS and the SCRA who are involved in decision making regarding children who are jointly reported by the police. The Agreement is also for police officers involved in decision making regarding the reporting of children who have committed offences. 3. The purpose of this Agreement is to ensure appropriate support and information exchange and consistent decision making for children who offend who are in both the children's and the adult systems or are transferring between them. The Agreement is also of relevance to those within a local authority who are working with children involved in offending behaviour. Scope of this Agreement 4. Where a child’s case is jointly reported this Agreement will apply to the consideration of the case by those in COPFS and the SCRA. 5. Although regular contact should take place between Procurators Fiscal and Children's Reporters in which they will discuss cases where an adult has been charged with an offence against a child, this Agreement is not applicable to those cases.
    [Show full text]