3 Criminal Court Proceedings in Context ( Table 1)
3.1 Chart 2 and Table 1 provide a summary of known action in the criminal justice system. In 2004/05, the Scottish police recorded 438,100 crimes and 633,000 offences. The total number of crimes recorded by the police increased by 6 per cent between 2003/04 and 2004/05. The figures reflected increases in the numbers of recorded crimes of fire-raising and vandalism, and some other low level crimes of dishonesty; which can be ascribed to the introduction of the Scottish Recorded Crime Standard ( SCRS). In 2004/05 the police recorded 632,982 offences, the highest number ever recorded and an increase of 4 per cent from the number in 2003/04. This was largely due to two factors; the increases shown in offences such as petty assault and breach of the peace, as a direct result of the introduction of the SCRS, and an increase in speeding offences, reflecting the continued impact of Safety Camera Partnerships. The crime clear-up rate between 2003/04 and 2004/05 decreased slightly from 47 per cent to 45 per cent. This is an anticipated effect of the new crime recording standard. Despite this decrease however, clear up rates remain high and the levels have generally been increasing steadily over the past quarter century, from a 30 per cent clear up rate in 1982
3.2 "Clear-ups" do not necessarily result in a report being made by the police to the procurator fiscal. For example, where the alleged offender is a child, a referral will normally be made to the Reporter to the Children's Panel. The vehicle defect rectification scheme operated by police forces offers the owners of defective vehicles the opportunity to avoid a report being made to the procurator fiscal, and the consequent possibility of court proceedings, by having their vehicle repaired within a given period. In April 1993 a new alternative to court proceedings was introduced for moving motor vehicle offences - the police conditional offer of a fixed penalty; previously only procurators fiscal could offer a fixed penalty for such an offence. In 2004/05 there were 280,900 police conditional offers, 22 per cent more than in 2003. It is not known how many alleged offenders are dealt with informally by the police or by other agencies, rather than the procurator fiscal.
3.3 Referrals or reports may often include more than one crime or offence, and in the case of reports to the procurator fiscal may also involve more than one person. There is thus no direct relationship between the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police and the number of disposals resulting from the action of other agencies within the criminal justice system. In addition, many offences such as Wireless Telegraphy Act offences (failure to pay a television licence) are not recorded by the police in the first instance. Where crimes or offences are recorded and cleared up by the police, procurator fiscal or other action does not necessarily occur in the same calendar year. In 2004/05, the number of reports received by the procurator fiscal was 328,400, an increase of 1 per cent compared with 2003/04.
3.4 Prosecution in court is only one of a range of possible options the procurator fiscal has for dealing with persons who have been charged. Other actions include the use of fiscal warnings, diversion to social work, the use of conditional offers of a fixed penalty for a range of motor vehicle offences, the "fiscal fine" for less serious non-motor vehicle offences, sending cases to the Reporter to the Children's Panel or a decision to take no proceedings.