MacAskill pressured over legal case backlog

Chief Reporter

Wednesday 26 October 2011

POLITICIANS have called for Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to explain what will be done to tackle a backlog of cases waiting to be processed by prosecutors.

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Lucy Adams Chief Reporter

Yesterday The Herald revealed the number of unmarked cases sitting with procurators-fiscal has doubled from 7000 to 14,000 in the past six months. Fiscals have also warned they are struggling to find sufficient staff to cover court because of cutbacks within the service.

There are concerns the backlog could cause some cases to miss the time bar and mistakes to be made in others because of growing pressures on staff.Johann Lamont, Labour’s justice spokeswoman, said: “The budget figures suggest this can only get worse. This is shocking and I have grave worries about the impact on victims and on people’s confidence in the system. We want to know how the minister will respond.” The backlog figures were raised in a submission to the Parliamentary Justice Committee.In April this year there were 7000 unmarked cases –where a decision has not been made – and 1300 were more than four weeks old, a Crown Office target for taking and implementing a decision. As at October 16, there were nearly 14,000 unmarked cases, with 4300 more than four weeks old.John Lamont, the Tory justice spokesman, said: “Scottish Conservatives managed to secure 1000 extra police for Scotland in the last Parliament to crack down on those committing crimes. However, this is nullified if there are insufficient resources in the Crown Office to process these offences. The Scottish Government must act to ensure this is dealt with.”Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes said: “Scotland needs a criminal justice system that deals with cases and prosecutions in an effective manner.”

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MacAskill pressured over legal case backlog

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