High Court reforms success

Independent report says reforms have been good for witnesses, victims, jurors and courts

News, 26 February 2007

An independent evaluation of the High Court reforms has judged them to have been a “considerable success” for victims, witnesses, jurors and the courts overall.

Reforms introduced in April 2005 under the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2004 included bringing in mandatory preliminary hearings, to assess each side's state of readiness for trial, and fixed trial dates instead of the previous system of sittings so that victims and witnesses know exactly when they need to come to court.

Over the first year of the new regime, the evaluation by Aberdeen University found:

a 90% fall in trial adjournments, from 475 in the pre-reform sample to 46 in the post-reform sample;
a 92% fall in the number of Crown witnesses inconvenienced by trial adjournments, down from 16,795 to 1,295 in the post-reform sample;
increased agreement of evidence in advance of a trial and earlier case preparation have resulted in prosecutors being better able to identify and cite only those witnesses who are vital to a case;
a substantial reduction in the number of cases requiring two or more trial sittings or dates, down from 279 to 32 cases, or from 33% to 4.5%;
a substantial reduction in the number of cases set down for trial - from 94% to 33% because of the introduction of mandatory preliminary hearings to discuss how prepared the prosecution and defence are for trial, and what evidence can be agreed in advance.

Overall, the High Court reforms, together with legal aid reforms and sentence discounting provisions, have contributed to a trebling in accelerated pre-trial guilty pleas from 10% to 31% in the post-reform sample.

Today's report also shows that preliminary hearings have been continued more often than anticipated, with 222 cases or 39% of the post-reform sample having two or more continuations, and 61 cases or 11% of the post-reform sample having four or more. Rape and sexual offence cases, which tend to be more complex, were slightly more likely to be affected.

Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said: "The substantial reductions in the number of cases which have to go to trial and the trebling of early guilty pleas means that fewer victims, witnesses and jurors are required to attend court unnecessarily.

"I want to pay tribute to all those within the criminal justice system who have helped the reforms result in such considerable initial success – defence lawyers, prosecutors, court staff and the judiciary. The challenge now is to build on that to ensure these considerable early successes are sustained."

The Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini QC said: "I am particularly proud of the contribution to the reforms made by the staff of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and by Crown counsel, my team of dedicated High Court prosecutors.”

The evaluation can be viewed at: www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2007/02/19111137/0 .