Procurator Fiscal
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The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service provides an independent public prosecution service in Scotland. Under the Scottish legal system almost all prosecution of criminal offences is by the Crown in the person of Her Majesty's Lord Advocate or the Procurator Fiscal.
The Service has extensive responsibilities in the investigation and prosecution of crime. It decides whether or not to start criminal proceedings, even if the accused has not yet been arrested or charged by the police, and the Crown is not required to give any reason for the decision. The Service is also responsible for the investigation of deaths in Scotland.
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History
The office dates back to Medieval times, with the earliest Lord Advocate being John Ross of Montgrenan who the King appointed as his commissioner at a hearing in Stirling in 1476, then as procurator for another case in Edinburgh in the following year. The role was officially acknowledged in 1494. Nowadays The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is a Department of the Scottish Executive, led by the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland who are the legal advisers to the Executive and may participate in the proceedings of the Scottish Parliament. A similar system now operates in England and Wales in the form of the Crown Prosecution Service which started operating in 1986.
The Lord Advocate
The Lord Advocate has responsibility for prosecuting the most serious crimes, in the High Court of Justiciary and the Court of Appeal. Unless the cases are of particular importance, such as the Lockerbie trial held at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, the prosecutions are led by Advocates Depute who are known collectively as Crown Counsel and are experienced advocates normally appointed for a limited period of three years. Their decision to prosecute is taken in the light of the Procurator Fiscal's recommendations and a report prepared by the police. The defence is presented by an advocate briefed by the client's solicitor.
The Procurator Fiscal
For the majority of crimes in Scotland the Procurator Fiscal presents the case for the prosecution in the Sheriff and District Courts, and the case for the defence is presented either by the accused's own solicitor or by a public defender. The Procurator Fiscal makes preliminary investigations into criminal cases, takes written statements from witnesses (known as precognition) and is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of crime. This includes the power to direct the police in their investigation, but except for serious crimes such as murder the police normally complete their enquiries before involving the Fiscal. Once someone has been charged with an offence and remanded in custody, the Crown must bring the case to trial within 110 days or the accused will be admitted to bail. Otherwise, in serious cases (solemn procedure) the trial must commence within 12 months of the date of first appearance in court.
The law in Scotland does not say that a crime must be prosecuted, and the public prosecutors have considerable discretion over what action to take. If they consider it appropriate they can issue a confidential warning which precludes future prosecution, or can make conditional offers of fixed penalty fines for minor offences which, if paid, save the case from going to court. In some cases, the Fiscal can refer the accused to a social worker or a psychiatrist for support and treatment rather than punishment with the aim of treating the cause of the problems to prevent re-offending.
The Procurator Fiscal Service is divided into 11 areas, with an Area Procurator Fiscal for each. The areas relate to the boundaries of the 8 Scottish police forces, except for Strathclyde which has been subdivided into 4 areas:
- Argyll and Clyde (at Paisley)
- Ayrshire (at Kilmarnock)
- Central (at Stirling)
- Dumfries and Galloway (at Dumfries)
- Fife (at Kirkcaldy)
- Glasgow
- Grampian (at Aberdeen)
- Highland and Islands (at Inverness)
- Lanarkshire (at Hamilton)
- Lothian and Borders (at Edinburgh)
- Tayside (at Dundee)
Within the areas, there is a network of 48 Procurator Fiscal offices, one for each Sheriff Court district.
External links
- Official Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal website (http://www.crownoffice.gov.uk/)
- Official Scottish Court Service website (http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk)
- BBC-Crime Fighters-The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/fighters/scotscrownoffice.shtml)