Fast-tracking court cases at Linlithgow Sheriff Court

It is well known to anybody who has dealings with the court system that everything takes a long time. The process of deciding whether someone should be prosecuted takes time, the setting of a court date takes time, and if someone pleads not guilty, that takes lots of time.

 

This should be from now a decreasing cause of concern in West Lothian. The ground-breaking West Lothian Project (WLP) has taken the criminal justice system and given it a good shake-up in order to recommend changes that improve speed, efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system. From the point of arrest to the day of sentencing, every part of the process has been subjected to scrutiny, and wherever possible, the issues causing delays have been eliminated.

What does this mean in practical terms?

Folowing an initial project based at the Livingston Courthouse, it is believed that the average time taken for cases handled through the principles established in the project should be reduced to about 25% of the time previously taken. Such huge reductions can only be achieved by all concerned coordinating their efforts to reduce delay, and this starts at the point of a police officer cautioning and charging someone with an offence.

The accused will be released on a Bail Undertaking, requiring attendance at court on a specified day, usually within three weeks, and the police officer will thereafter make a report direct to the Procurator Fiscal. Police Officers have been trained to make these reports as accurate and relevant as possible, and this in itself has reduced delays from enquiries back to the officer at different points in the process. However, the opportunity for direct discussion with the PF is very helpful to police officers.

How will the accused's solicitor know what is happening?

The police will ask an arrested person who normally acts for them as defence solicitor, and send copies of the documentaion to that solicitor. When they appear at court with their client, they will know in advance what the charges are, and will have received a summary of the evidence, to help them advise their client about how to plead.

What if the accused person wishes to plead Not Guilty?

If the accused decides to plead Not Guilty, the Inter­mediate Diet and Trial Diet are both set for the earliest possible dates. The Inter­mediate Diet represents an earlier attempt to ensure that witnesses do not have to attend court needlessly, and fits perfectly into the new system.

What is the West Lothian Project doing to ensure that people do turn up at court?

There are various ways in which non-attendance has been reduced: Police Officers now take more details of the accused, including place of work, and the accused is advised that in the event of non-attendance, places of employment will be included in the locations checked by the police. Most importantly, accused persons are advised that in the event of non-attendance, a warrant will be issued immediately, and that police officers will implement it right then. In the past, action might not be taken on warrants for some weeks; now police officers from the Divisional Support team go out as soon as the warrant is printed to arrest the absent person. Simply advising the accused person that this will happen has had a considerable effect on attendance.

What is the role of the Criminal Justice Social Work Service in this project?

We have appointed additional staff to work within the Livingston Courthouse, to make sure that we interview all people on whom reports have been requested. This preliminary interview has proved very useful in making sure that we know which other organisations are working wioth an individual, and should allow us to complete reports within shorter time-scales.

If all the circum­stances are right, it may very occasionally be possible to prepare the report on the same day that the report is requested. The project management group has accepted that such reports are not likely to be prepared often, because we have to make a number of other enquiries in most cases.