4. Commentary: Criminal Court Proceedings in Context ( Table 1, Chart 2)
4.1 Chart 2 and Table 1 provide a summary of known action in the criminal justice system. The total number of crimes recorded by the police in 2007/08 was 385,500, eight per cent lower than in 2006/07. The total remains well below the 2004/05 figure of 438,100, and is indeed the lowest figure in the last ten years. The number of recorded crimes cleared up by the police fell by a similar proportion between 2006/07 and 2007/08, with the clear-up rate increasing slightly from 47 to 48 per cent.
4.2 The number of offences recorded by the police fell by 6 per cent from 607,400 in 2006/07 to 571,900 in 2007/08. The number of offences cleared up also fell by a similar percentage, with the clear-up rate remaining at 93 per cent.
4.3 "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. An alternative to court proceedings for moving motor vehicle offences is the police conditional offer of a fixed penalty. In 2007/08 there were an estimated 219,700 police conditional offers, 2 per cent less than in 2006/07. It is not known how many alleged offenders are dealt with informally by the police or by other agencies, rather than the procurator fiscal.
4.4 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 or Communications 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, any action by the procurator fiscal (or other action) does not necessarily occur in the same year. In 2007/08, the number of reports received by the procurator fiscal was 325,700, a decrease of 1 per cent compared with 2006/07.
4.5 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. In addition, as a result of the introduction of Summary Justice Reform in late 2007 / early 2008, the combination of the increased use of adult warnings, police fixed penalty notices and the increased fiscal fine levels and compensation offers available to the procurator fiscal is likely to increase the number of cases which will be dealt with outwith the courts in the future.
Chart 2: Overview of action within the criminal justice system 2007/08 1
- Figures rounded to the nearest 100.
- Crimes recorded in 2007/08 may not be cleared up or dealt with until 2008/09 or later.
- A report to the procurator fiscal may involve more than one crime or offence and more than one alleged offender.
- The total number of reports to the fiscal includes reports on non-criminal matters such as sudden deaths.
- Figures relate to cases which were closed as offer accepted.
- Figures for persons with a charge proved count the number of occasions on which a person is convicted.
A number of outcomes may result in subsequent prosecutions or referrals to other agencies, for example if a condition such as payment of a fixed penalty is not complied with. For simplicity, these pathways are not shown in the diagram.