Justice pilot to be rolled out

The project saw offenders move through the courts more quickly

A pilot project in West Lothian aimed at speeding up the criminal justice system is to be expanded to Edinburgh.

The scheme, which began in 2004, was set up to encourage police, lawyers and social workers to work closer together.

During the two-year pilot the West Lothian Criminal Justice Project saw the time taken to deal with offenders cut by almost two thirds.

The new system also reduced the time spent on court cases by half with 70% of all cases concluded within 13 weeks.

A report published this week which assessed the success of the pilot, found that when the courts, police and social workers worked more closely together there was a dramatic increase in the speed of the system.

Final determination

From initial caution to final determination offenders saw the time taken to deal with a case drop from 21 weeks to just eight.

Sheriff Principal Edward Bowen QC who heads the Lothian and Borders Criminal Justice Board, described the outcome of the pilot project as "remarkable" and said he was confident that it could also flourish in Edinburgh.

He said: "Not only are the quantitive results remarkable but staff throughout the system are positive and confident about the changes and do not want to return to the previous arrangements.

"Whilst it has been conceded that the West Lothian jurisdiction is relatively small and that its new system could not necessarily simply be applied elsewhere, I and my Criminal Justice Board, have sufficient confidence in the approach that we have authorised an extended pilot in Edinburgh."

The project will now be rolled out to include the Leith and Drylaw areas of north Edinburgh.