The SNP Government have said that ‘justice is no longer a priority’, according to correspondence with the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service.
The admission was revealed following a Freedom of Information request from the Scottish Conservatives.
It comes amid a court backlog of over 43,000 cases, the highest ever on record. The Scottish Courts and tribunal Service (SCTS) say they are unlikely to clear the backlog until 2026.
The SCTS had requested additional funding in this year’s budget – only to be short-changed by £12 million in core funding by the SNP Government.
At First Minister’s Questions, Jamie Greene raised the case of a victim taking a domestic abuser to trial who has been waiting three years for justice due to court backlogs, with her case being delayed 18 times.
A BBC investigation found that court delays have led many domestic abuse and sexual assault victims to drop their cases.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Jamie Greene MSP, said: “Two weeks ago, the SNP Government admitted that hundreds of criminals had received the wrong assessment on the risk they posed to the public.
“This careless blunder was yet another sign that this Government has lost its way on justice.
“The First Minister also refused to take a moral stance on cutting automatic early release to just a third of the way through prisoners sentences – in 2015 she said her plan was to see automatic early release scrapped, but one sharp U-turn later and she wants to see sentences shortened even more.
“The system that the First Minister now presides over is stacked against victims from the very start.
“Despite her protestations, the facts could not be clearer. Under this SNP Government, getting justice for victims of crime is no longer a priority.
“As was revealed today, victims of horrific crimes like domestic abuse and sexual assault are now dropping their cases due to record court backlogs.
“Covid has made the backlog worse - but there were tens of thousands of court cases awaiting trial before the pandemic began. The First Minister must urgently get a grip on the backlog and help victims to escape the agonising limbo of court delays.”
Notes
The courts were told by the SNP Government that the justice portfolio was no longer a priority. A freedom of information response from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service revealed they were told ‘we have not received any indications from Scottish Government other than Justice is no longer a priority work stream in 2022-23’. (Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, Freedom of information response: 1b Budget Template Guidance, 8 February 2022, available on request).
In 2015, Nicola Sturgeon said she wanted to end automatic early release as soon as possible. On 2 April 2015 Nicola Sturgeon said: “Our objective remains to end the policy of automatic early release completely as soon as we are able to.” (Scottish Parliament, Official Report, 2 April 2015, link).
The SNP are now considering allowing criminals to be automatically released after serving just a third of their prison sentence. The Scottish Government’s consultation states of their proposals for prisoners sentenced to less than four years ‘what this could mean in practice is that short-term prisoners could be automatically released earlier than the half-way point of their sentence, e.g. at the 1/3 point.’ (Scottish Government, Consultation on Bail and Release from Custody Arrangements in Scotland, 15 November 2021, link).
The SNP Government short-changed courts service to the tune of £12 million. When excluding recovery funding, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service requested £145.7 million in total in order to deal with the increased court backlog. However, the SNP Government’s budget only allocated the service £133.5 million – falling short on resource and capital budgets. This threatens to leave the court backlog running on longer and victims waiting years for justice. (Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, Freedom of information response: 3 Letter – SCTS Spending Review 2022-23, 8 February 2022, Available on request; Scottish Government, Budget 2022-23, 9 December 2021, link).
A report seen by the BBC found that domestic abuse victims are dropping their court cases because delays are so long. The report details that women and children are having to wait years for cases to conclude due to adjournments and administrative delays which is leading to some victims deciding to drop their case entirely. (BBC News, 17 March 2022, link).
There are currently 43,606 trials scheduled in Scotland – the highest on record. Across all criminal courts in Scotland, 43,606 trials are scheduled as of the end of January 2022. This is higher than any other period since monthly statistics were published by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. (SCTS, Monthly Management Information, 22 February 2022, link).