Committee
Justice 1 Committee, 14 Jan 2004
14 Jan 2004 · S2 · Justice 1 Committee
Item of business
Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Christine Vallely:
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Since about two years ago, magistrates all around the country have had to complete at the end of each case a form to say whether the case was effective—whether it went to trial. A case might not go to trial for a variety of reasons, some of which might be described as a good result—for example, if a person turns up and pleads on the day. However, a plea on the day is costly because of the expense of running the trial, booking the courtroom, having all the personnel and getting the witnesses. It is a good result, because a plea has been obtained without the problem of putting the witnesses to proof and going though evidence, but it is also a bad result in some respects, because it is an expensive gain. As is being contemplated or already being done in Scotland, judges in England are being encouraged to give discounts for early pleas. That message has not been getting through, at least in the cases that we have been examining. People are still saying that it is better to wait and see, because the witnesses may well not turn up. Therefore, people will delay and delay. A cracked trial is one that terminates on the day, and in which there is no further action. There is a list of about 11 reasons why that might occur, one of which is a late plea. A bind-over also counts as a cracked trial. Witnesses not turning up is another reason why cases crack. A further type is an ineffective trial, which involves a case not going ahead on the day listed, but being set for a future date. That is an adjournment and the hope is not to have too many of those. If witnesses keep on turning up and cases are adjourned, there will be witness fatigue—people tend to get a bit fed up, as you or I would. The statistics on that have been counted over the past two years or so and they form part of strategic steers and performance indicators for the Court Service.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Item 2 is consideration of the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill. The committee will be aware that this is our last session of oral evidence on ...
Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Good morning. Can you give us a brief outline of the scope of the research that you have conducted? What courts did you examine? What was the nature of the o...
Christine Vallely (University of Wolverhampton):
Good morning, everyone. The research originated from the cracked and ineffective trials data for England and Wales, which showed that many cases collapsed be...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
You answered most of my questions. In a moment, I will pick up on a couple of points that you mentioned. I asked you whether some offences involved a greater...
Christine Vallely:
Yes. We found that non-attendance related predominantly to offences that involved violence, rather than property, harassment or even intimidation. Younger wi...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
Will you explain what cracked and ineffective cases are?
Christine Vallely:
Since about two years ago, magistrates all around the country have had to complete at the end of each case a form to say whether the case was effective—wheth...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that you said that a chaotic lifestyle did not seem to be a reason why people do not turn up to trial. Perhaps it is a ...
Professor Dee Cook (University of Wolverhampton):
That is correct. Our original research question tested that. It asked what it was about some victims and witnesses and their lives that rendered them either ...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
You mentioned early guilty pleas, the idea of which did not seem to be getting through to the accused. Could you expand on that a little? The idea is that, i...
Christine Vallely:
There are a variety of reasons for that. One question is at what stage the signal should be given to the defendant that there will be a discount for an early...
Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab):
Lab
You have gone through the principal reasons for non-attendance and comprehensively debunked the notion of the witness deficit—that is not where the problem l...
Professor Cook:
Non-attendance is a specific issue for victims in domestic violence cases, but the interesting point is that, in general, the patterns and numbers are not mu...
Marlyn Glen:
Lab
Did witnesses for the defence attend court more or less often?
Christine Vallely:
We did not do research on the defence, because our brief confined us to considering civilian prosecution witnesses. However, in the course of the research, w...
Professor Cook:
The case study of victims who were supported by the scheme indicated that more than 90 per cent of them turned up on the day. Often the support is relatively...
Marlyn Glen:
Lab
You have talked about the factors affecting witnesses. Can you comment briefly on the risk assessment framework that you recommend?
Professor Cook:
By the end of the research, we came to the conclusion that the risk assessment framework would be a framework for issues that the criminal justice system nee...
Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con):
Con
I want to tease out what lies behind non-attendance in domestic violence cases. Is it only the complainer who does not attend, or does non-attendance extend ...
Professor Cook:
We are just completing a piece of work on specialist domestic violence courts for the CPS. We have found that it is rare that witnesses other than the victim...
Margaret Mitchell:
Con
I was wondering about cases where the victim does not have community support and the couple have apparently resolved the problem themselves but the violence ...
Professor Cook:
There is a lot of evidence that repeat victimisation is dramatically reduced with the advent of specialist domestic violence courts and where there is co-ord...
Margaret Mitchell:
Con
That is helpful, thank you.
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
I seek clarification on one point. You talked about a reduction of 35 per cent. That sounds highly significant. Is that just in domestic violence cases?
Professor Cook:
Yes. There is a 35 per cent reduction in domestic violence cases.
Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab):
Lab
You have talked about the need for continuity and co-ordination of support for witnesses and you said that that would tackle the root problem of non-attendan...
Christine Vallely:
In mid-May, when Professor Cook and I were in the middle of our case study, we were suddenly asked to evaluate that scheme, which was not part of our origina...
Bill Butler:
Lab
Were the police the lead in the pilot?
Christine Vallely:
In the west midlands scheme, the witness care team—such as it was—was specifically located in CPS offices. In the best model, police witness warners—who are ...
Bill Butler:
Lab
Was the scheme changing the culture and the approach to the problem?