THE AVERAGE time it took to process a summary criminal case at Dundee Sheriff Court last year was 25 weeks— marginally more than Perth’s 24 weeks per case—according to figures released by Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson in a parliamentary answer.

Summary cases—where a sheriff sits without a jury—at Kirkcaldy took an average of 27 weeks to process, Arbroath 22 weeks, Forfar and Cupar 19 weeks each and Dunfermline 18 weeks.

The figures also reveal that the number of summary cases concluded in Dundee last financial year was 4800, while in Perth 2832 such cases were concluded.

In Kirkcaldy 3006 cases were concluded; Dunfermline had 2025, Arbroath 1175, Forfar 904 and Cupar 690.

These figures include all court appearances—some cases plead guilty at the end of processing when they call in court; many other cases go to trial.

Most courts in Scotland are forced at times to adjourn trials for a variety of reasons—the case running over its allotted time, witnesses failing to appear and so on.

In Dundee 579 trials were only concluded after at least one adjournment.

In Perth the figure was 258, Kirkcaldy 229, Arbroath 84, Forfar 33, Cupar 43 and Dunfermline 76.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court processed summary cases in an average of 18 weeks and concluded 10,366 cases in the year, including 640 trials which needed at least one adjournment before concluding.

Of course, Edinburgh has a very much larger procurator fiscal service and almost as many courts as Tayside and Fife put together.