Solicitors express concern about drop in prosecutions

Sep 15 2011 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

SENIOR solicitors have expressed concern at the dramatic drop in the number of criminal cases being prosecuted in West Lothian.

The number of cases coming to court in West Lothian has fallen by a staggering 41 per cent in just three years. That is double the national average, which has seen a 19 per cent reduction over the same period.

In 2007-08 there were 3132 cases prosecuted in the West Lothian jurisdiction but this had dropped to just 1837 in 2010-11.

Between April 2008 and April 2009 on average 255 complaints a month were being dealt with but figures for July 2011 show just 130 cases were prosecuted — one of the area’s lowest ever figures.

Legal sources in the county claim the massive fall can be attributed to the introduction of fiscal fines.

The shake-up of Scotland’s court system came into effect three years ago, in July 2008.

Since then, thousands of offenders a year have been privately offered warnings, fines of up to £300, work orders of up to 50 hours or compensation of up to £3000 as an alternative to being prosecuted in court.

Fiscal fines are designed to be issued for low level offences such as malicious damage and anti-social behaviour.

Those who accept the offer escape a court appearance and the shame of having a criminal conviction recorded against their name.

But one senior solicitor from the Faculty of Solicitors in West Lothian who spoke to the Courier said the system was being used to deal with offenders guilty of more serious crimes such as assault and persistent shoplifters and large numbers of criminals were escaping justice under the new system.

And they said the dramatic drop in cases being prosecuted in West Lothian sent out the wrong signals to criminals in the county.

“The public deserve to know why criminals in West Lothian are two times less likely to be prosecuted than they are nationwide,” the solicitor said.

“I had a guy in the office who was given four fiscal fines for shoplifting in a six-month period.

“He was also given two fiscal fines for misuse of drugs and possession of drugs but he already has two court convictions for misuse of drugs and one of them was for dealing.

“These are offences that in the past would have been taken to court for prosecution.

“They are only supposed to get one or two fiscal fines but there are many cases of people getting a lot more than that number.”

However, the Crown Office, who prosecute crimes, refute the claims and say a large part of the reduction in court cases can be attributed to a 14 per cent fall in crime and a nine per cent drop in the number of cases reported to the Procurator Fiscal.

A spokesman for the Crown Office said Procurators Fiscal operate a presumption in favour of taking action when someone is reported by the police and will take into account all relevant facts and circumstances and decide what is the most appropriate action to take.

A spokesman added: “Figures also show that over 98 per cent of people who receive direct measures receive only one or two direct measures.

“A report by the independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland commended the detailed guidance and training made available to Procurators Fiscal and found that the powers to issue direct measures were being implemented as Parliament intended.”