Serious crime soars – with 700 trials due at High Court
PROSECUTORS have sounded the alarm over a rise in the number of serious crimes – creating the biggest High Court workload since 2016.
A Crown Office memo spells out concern over the sharp increase, which officials said came despite a fall in overall recorded crime.
The number of scheduled High Court trials has risen to more than 700, fuelled by the pandemic backlog, figures show.
But even before Covid there were fears over the large number of serious cases and the extra strain on the overstretched Crown Office.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘These figures not only show the consequences of a soft-touch SNP Government, but also its failure to properly resource the courts system.
‘Crown Office staff are feeling immense pressure and criminals are laughing at the justice system. All of this leads to increased torment for victims.’
The minute of a Crown Office executive board meeting states there was discussion of serious crime led by an unnamed Deputy Crown Agent (DCA).
It said: ‘DCA [for] Serious Casework introduced this item and highlighted the reduction in recorded crime but increase in instances of serious crime, which is reflected in the highest number of cases being prepared for High Court proceedings since the High Court function was created in 2016.’
The Crown Office was unable to provide figures which would ‘evidence the change in complexity and profile of COPFS [Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service] work’.
Figures published by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (STCS) yesterday show 709 ‘forecast scheduled’ High Court trials at the end of October, up from 452 in April.
Before Covid, Scotland’s top judge, Lord Carloway, said the
Crown Office should cut the number of prosecutions to stop the country’s creaking court system getting ‘clogged up’.
He urged lawyers and prosecutors to ‘play their part’ by cutting down on needless delays. He added that it was no longer enough for justice to be of a high quality as it must also be done at a ‘proportionate cost’.
Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said it was ‘vital that police and the prosecution services have the tools at their disposal to ensure the guilty are convicted’.
COPFS said it ‘ continues to process caseloads’ at summary and solemn levels ‘which are already in the system as well as dealing with new reports which are being submitted’.
Cases continue to be prepared, indicted and complaints served. It is working with the ‘SCTS and other partners to prioritise the reduction of the number of outstanding trials as trial business resumes’.
A COPFS spokesman said: ‘The profile and complexity of casework has changed significantly i n recent years, and there’s been an increase noted i n the most serious cases reported.
‘As a result, COPFS have sought and secured additional resources to continue delivering an effective, rigorous and fair independent prosecution service.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We of course understand the impact trial delays have on victims, witnesses and accused, and have provided up to £12million to the SCTS for remote High Court and sheriff j ury centres to restore pre-Covid court capaci ty, on top of £ 3million to develop court technology.’
‘Immense pressure’