OVER the past year The Herald has regularly reported on the issue of court reform in Scotland as public consultation took place on the Scottish Government's draft legislation.
However as you pointed out, problems persist ("Strikers target Scotland's busiest courts and jails", (The Herald, January 26) . In my opinion the matters being raised in the media reports and by the unions are the tip of a very threatening ceberg.
Effectively case management and court administration is often an embarrassing shambles which affects victims, accused, lawyers, judges, witnesses and all working within the system. It makes mockery of the procedures to ensure that vulnerable witnesses are protected and that victims of domestic and sexual abuse are dealt with speedily and with compassion.
In representations I made to the Justice Committee when the Court Reform(Scotland ) Bill was being considered I observed that a central principle of change management was that before change was implemented the current overall health and efficiency of the organisation must be determined. I observed: "Change introduced into an already struggling organisation can only serve to further destabilise it, lower the efficiency and morale of those working within it and undermine the potentially valuable intended reforms."
I argued that court reform had gone the same "knee-jerk" way of other recent changes in Scotland's justice system, citing legal aid reform and the abolition of the need for corroboration in support.
I called for a comprehensive analysis and assessment of the current efficiency of court administration and the workload implications before any change was implemented.
Needless to say political spin and vested interests won out over logic and as a result we are faced with a court system that is descending into chaos and a Courts Service in denial, with its collective head stuck firmly in the rapidly shifting sands.
Iain AJ McKie,
27 Donnini Court, South Beach Road, Ayr.
IT is commonly acknowledged that lawyers are hugely overpaid relative to their contribution to society. Their insistence that the justice system is somehow at risk because the police aren't charging everyone that they might normally because of court strikes("Court strike forced police to cut arrests, say lawyers", The Herald, January 27) reeks of nothing but self-interest.
They are concerned that their merry-go-round of cash customers might be affected. I'm not aware of them being so concerned about the massive inconvenience many people and businesses are put through when they are called for jury duty only to be messed about by lawyers changing pleas at the last minute, not turning up, and so on. In fact, the last time they got so righteous on us must have been when they were asked to seek payment from their own clients -, they way the rest of the world works.
It's high time the good of society was put before the good of lawyers.
James Young,
90 Mitchell Street, Glasgow.
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