Report to the People
18th September 2006
Summary Justice
If you’ve
ever had the misfortune of attending court as a victim or witness, you’ll know
it’s rarely a pleasant experience.
You also know
- and this may come as a surprise to those of us whose only contact with the
legal system is watching Rumpole of the Bailey making stirring speeches to the
jury every week on ITV3 - that the vast majority of cases in Scotland are heard
by a judge sitting without a jury.
In fact,
about 96% of cases are tried under this “summary justice” procedure, so it
must work efficiently and effectively.
Having
successfully modernised the handling of serious and complex cases in the High
Courts, therefore, the Scottish Parliament has turned its attention to improving
how summary justice is delivered. This
work resulted in the publication of the Criminal Proceedings Bill, which MSPs
had their first chance to debate on Thursday.
The Bill will reform bail and remand, strengthening bail conditions and dealing robustly with breaches.
It will also
see those who won’t pay their fines having their wages seized.
Rather than clogging up the courts with delaying tactics, their case will
be passed to new enforcement officers, who will know where fine dodgers live and
work.
And it’s
the end of the road for those who think they can waste our money, inconvenience
witnesses, distress victims and avoid justice by not turning up to court:
the Bill allows for them to be tried in their absence.
That, in my
book at least, is proper justice.
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