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More fines rather than court action?

(3 posts)
  • Started 12 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from Wilmington's Cow

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  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    I'd missed this news till a Law Society circular came round this morning. The Scottish Government, as part of it's cost-cutting, is looking to axe a number of Sheriff Courts. Thing is, the court service is already ridiculously stretched, so either cases are going to take a lot longer to get to court, or the fiscal service will simply resort to fiscal fines in place of full prosecution (obviously giving the perp the option of paying up, or going to court).

    This affects all aspects of criminal activity, but I do wonder if the already softly-softly target of motoring offences will simply become an administrative process with careless driving in particular being dealt with much like a speeding FPN.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. AKen
    Member

    It would be interesting to see how the police handle things now that they are unified. The former forces had different pratices for issuing penalties. Strathclyde were much readier to give out tickets than most other forces, and were far and away the biggest.

    I'm unsure about the overall impact of the proposed court closures as some of those identified for closure seem to be small courts with little business.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Speeding fines and so on are dealt with by the police - to do so with careless driving and so on would probably require a change in the law. If dealt with by fiscal fine that's levied by the Procurator Fiscal after the report has been provided to them by the police (the fiscal then determines whether to prosecute or not or any alternative such as the fines).

    The unified force might well change things though, in how they report to the fiscals.

    The courts to be closed might be 'quiet' in relation to the others, but the problem is the others are already running above capacity in a lot of places, so the additional burden will necessarily create delays (where there are already delays).

    We'll not really know the impact until the courts are actually closed. But I definitely think 'low impact' crimes (not just motoring ones against cyclists) might slip down a pecking order.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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