Thorley Stephenson Solicitors Edinburgh Blog

The Scottish Government has awarded additional funding of a total of £1.1 million towards the prosecution service in an effort to combat court delays following a rise in the number of reported sexual offences in Scotland in recent years, with sexual offences now comprising “approximately 75% of the Crown Office’s workload”. The new funds provided are designed to go towards the improvement of communication between complainers and the Crown Court as well as to prevent any delays in cases going to court.

According to a recent article, official statistics have shown that the number of people serving time in prison for committing sexual offences has more than doubled since the year 2000. This rise in convicted sex offenders during this period was also met with an increase in the age profiles of offenders who have been convicted in historic cases.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has been warned by personal injury experts that the government’s plans to increase the small claims limit from £1,000 to £2,000 for minor injury cases could impact up to 350,000 people a year in England and Wales by making it harder for victims to secure compensation from employers under these changes (in Scotland, the small claims threshold is currently at £3,000).

Property and violent crimes make up the majority of crimes in Scottish criminal justice proceedings (68% and 32% respectively, see Fig.1). 

After a recent analysis revealed that remanded prisoners were more likely to die than those serving sentences, Scottish Labour have requested a full government review.