Bulletin shows lockdown level of criminal court business

The low level of criminal business able to proceed in the Scottish courts is shown in the latest quarterly statistical bulletin from the Courts Service.

Covering the quarter from April to June 2020, when no solemn trials at all took place, it also shows that callings in the High Court were at 39% of the average per quarter in the previous year; callings in sheriff court solemn cases were at 58%; outstanding sheriff court summary trials increased by 28% to 17,818; and outstanding justice of the peace summary trials increased by 7% to 3,732.

There was no growth in the number of solemn trials scheduled because no diets were being fixed, but 231 High Court indictments were registered, in line with the previous quarter, along with 893 sheriff court indictments, 31% down. There were 2,517 sheriff court petitions, up 10% on the previous quarter but in line with the three before that.

David Fraser, chief operations officer at SCTS, commented: "I am delighted that we have been able to publish these figures in spite of the difficulties caused by the global pandemic."

Click here to view the bulletin.