By Stefan Morkis

TAYSIDE’S TOP prosecutor has said justice reforms and the introduction of fiscal fines will allow them to better target more serious criminals and provide an improved service to the public.

Area fiscal David Howdle was responding to criticism from defence lawyers who said fewer cases were passing through Dundee Sheriff Court because more people were being given fines.

Mr Howdle said that although reforms including the extended use of fiscal fines were designed to increase the efficiency of the court system, there were several other reasons for the fall in case numbers— including a fall in the Tayside crime rate.

He also categorically denied fines are being used as a cost-saving measure or that there were secret guidelines—the supposed “three-stitch” rule—telling prosecutors which offences should be dealt with by a fixed penalty fine and which should go to court.

“There have been comments about the number of cases being dropped, a policy of downgrading or that there has been a change in how we deal with serious and sexual crimes,” Mr Howdle said.

“I’d like to knock that on the head. There is no policy of downgrading—I will say that categorically.

“And there has been no change in how serious, violent or sexual crimes are dealt with. These will always go to court.”

He also said that reducing the amount of minor cases which go to court allows the fiscal’s office to spend more time pursuing more serious crimes.

In the year ending June 2004, 36.5% of solemn cases pled guilty before a trial diet but in the year ending June 2008 this had risen to 66.5% of cases.

“It allows us to deal with the serious and more sensitive crimes better and it is already beginning to have an effect,” Mr Howdle said.

“We are seeing a lot more pleas of guilty in these cases at an early stage.”

In 2003-04 police submitted 29,643 reports but this dropped to 24,902 in 2007-08 and Mr Howdle said this had also led to a fall in traffic through the courts.

“It is interesting and in the last annual report, the chief constable said there has been a significant drop in crime levels—by 8% in the last financial year,” he said.

“Things like that have caused the number of reports to come down.

“Tayside Police were the first to get the fixed penalty system and these direct measures have allowed them to deal with some of the low level cases that they otherwise would have reported to us.”

Mr Howdle said successive governments had been looking at ways to improve the efficiency of the courts system with some cases taking months or even years before reaching their conclusion.

“Essentially, there have been concerns for decades about the amount of clogging up of the courts that has been taking place,” he said.

“A case could take months or years because of a whole variety of reasons.”

He said the need for summary justice reform had long been recognised.

“Repeated governments said something must be done about this and last year the Labour-Lib Dem administration got the Criminal Proceedings Act 2007 put into place,” he said. “It was voted through unanimously with no dissent voiced in any part of the parliament.

“It was a piece of legislation to improve the quality of justice for victims and witnesses in a variety of different ways: by enhancing fiscal fines, by increasing the summary sentencing powers of sheriffs and by putting in place a number of procedural improvements.

“We would expect to see fewer cases going into the court next year and being dealt with other measures, which is what parliament intended,” he added.

Fiscal fines were offered in 102 cases of assault in Dundee during the first six months of the year but Mr Howdle said there was no “three stitches” rule.

This was a claim that any assault where the victim’s wound needed only three stitches or less would be dealt with by a fine.

“We are not giving fiscal fines to repeat offenders or people charged with serious crimes. There is no three stitches rule,” he said.

“We are talking about cases that would have appeared in the JP court (which has been given powers to deal with some offences that would previously have been heard in the sheriff court) and district court.”

He added that fines stay on an individual’s record for two years so repeat offenders cannot avoid court for long.

“Fiscal fines have been on the statute books for about 20 years in one shape or form so it’s not a sudden radical departure, it is an enhancement of what was there.

“It is done in a lot of jurisprudence that shows that these things are effective.

“I think what they all do—and what summary justice reform is doing and better management of cases is doing—is delivering justice quickly.

“If a fiscal fine is offered and accepted that means that justice has been done very quickly. We are taking less serious cases out of court and that means the courts are freed up for more serious cases.”

He also strenuously denied accusations of cost cutting, adding “As area fiscal for Tayside I can say that the fiscal service is better resourced than it has been at any time in my 33 years’ experience.”