Courts in Scotland

Question 1

What is the maximum fine that the JP can issue?

Answer 1

£2500

Question 2

What are the 3 roles of the criminal courts?

Answer 2

Determine guilt, punish and provide justice

Question 3

Around what % of crimes do not make it to court?

Answer 3

50%

Question 4

What is a summary procedure?

Answer 4

Only a judge passes verdict, there is no jury.

Question 5

What are the two types of sentencing?

Answer 5

Custodial and non-custodial

Question 6

What are the two types of procedures?

Answer 6

Summary procedure and solemn procedure.

Question 7

What is the correct terminology for community service?

Answer 7

Community Payback Order (CPO)

Question 8

How many people are there in a jury in Scotland?

Answer 8

15

Question 9

What is the maximum custodial sentence that can be passed in the JP

Answer 9

60 days in custody

Question 10

What are the three main criminal courts in Scotland called?

Answer 10

Justice of the Peace. Sheriff Court and the High Court

Question 11

What types of crime will the JP deal with?

Answer 11

Less serious crimes in society such as road traffic offences

Question 12

What is a non-custodial sentence?

Answer 12

A punishment that does not involve prison. Normally a fine, Home Detention Curfew (HDC) or Community Payback Order (CPO)

Question 13

What is a solemn procedure?

Answer 13

A judge and jury (15 people)

Question 14

What are the three current verdicts in Scottish Courts?

Answer 14

Guilty, Not Guilty and Not Proven

Question 15

What types of crime will the High Court deal with?

Answer 15

The most serious in society such as murder and serious assault

Question 16

Rank the courts in order of which deals with the most serious crimes down to least

Answer 16

High Court
Sheriff Court
Justice of the Peace

Question 17

Under a summary procedure in the Sheriff Court, what are the maximum punishments?

Answer 17

12 months custodial sentence
£5,000 financial fine

Question 18

Rufus McLean got sentenced to 120 hours of Community Payback Order by which court?

Answer 18

Edinburgh Sheriff Court

Question 19

The murder case of Margaret Fleming took place in which court?

Answer 19

Glasgow High Court

Question 20

The Glasgow Sheriff Court determined that Natalie McGarry was guilty of …

Answer 20

Embezzlement

Question 21

Hamilton Sheriff Court punished Mark McLean by …

Answer 21

Giving him a Community Payback Order

Question 22

The High Court in Glasgow provide justice for whose family after they convicted Andrew Wallace?

Answer 22

Julie Reilly

Question 23

3 reasons why people argue that the courts are effective are

Answer 23

1. They can imprison perpetrators
2. They can deter people from committing crime
3. They can keep the public safe

Question 24

3 reasons why people argue that the courts are not effective are

Answer 24

1. Reoffending rates are high
2. They do not deter enough people
3. Some guilty people get away

Question 25

why are courts effective because they can imprison perpetrators of crime in Scotland?

Answer 25

criminal courts are able to send someone to prison for the crimes that they have committed as a good way of punishing them for their crimes and to remove them from society in order to protect the public from future offending and dangerous individuals.

Question 26

What is an example of the courts effectively sending perpetrators to prison?

Answer 26

many will feel that sending Kevin Guthrie to prison after he sexually assaulted a woman in Glasgow is an effective way the courts have responded to this crime.

Question 27

Why are courts effective at reducing offending?

Answer 27

They can deter people from committing crimes.

Question 28

Why are courts effective at deterring crime?

Answer 28

A key role of the courts is to punish offenders for what they have done so other potential criminals might be put off committing crimes after seeing how others were punished. People who have been sent to prison may also not want to be in that situation again and therefore not commit any more crimes.

Question 29

How are courts more effective than the police at deterring crime?

Answer 29

the courts can issue tougher punishments for people who commit hate crimes as a way of deterring people from being racists or homophobic.

Question 30

How do courts effectively keep the public safe?

Answer 30

By locking up dangerous criminals, the courts keep people off the streets who might otherwise commit horrific crimes. The courts can also issue rehabilitation and counselling to stop offending behaviours.

Question 31

What is an example of the courts keeping the public safe from a potential psychopath?

Answer 31

The High Court - by locking up Aaron Campbell, the murderer of Alesha MacPhail, the courts are stopping this potential psychopath from harming others.

Question 32

Why are courts not effective at tackling crime?

Answer 32

high rates of reoffending.

Question 33

Why do courts not effectively tackle reoffending?

Answer 33

This is where the people the courts punished have not addressed the reasons why they committed the crimes and so go onto commit more crimes.

Question 34

What evidence suggests that Scottish courts were failing to stop offending?

Answer 34

the Scottish government has had to ban courts from issuing short sentences of less than 12 months as reoffending rates were as high as 30%.

Question 35

why are courts ineffective because they are not deterring enough criminals?

Answer 35

One purpose of the courts is to deter others from committing crimes but the fact that there has been an increase in crimes that are violent in nature such as murder, assault and robbery suggest that they are not fully effective.

Question 36

What evidence is there that courts are ineffective because they are not deterring enough criminals?

Answer 36

non-sexual violent crime has increased by 16% in recent years.

Question 37

Why do conviction rates prove that Scottish courts are not effective?

Answer 37

Guilty people in Scotland are not found guilty.

Question 38

The nearly abolished Not Proven verdict in Scotland is an example of ineffectiveness of the courts. Why?

Answer 38

Because Scotland has the Not Proven verdict it can mean that even though a jury finds someone guilty they may not feel there is enough evidence to convict. For example, 1 in 5 Rape trials results in the Not Proven Verdict.