Decision-making on Bail and Remand in Scotland: final report - December 2023

Appendix A - Key Terms

Accused - a person alleged to have committed a crime.

Complainer - person making the allegation in a criminal case.

Complaint - a statement, made by a witness to the police, accusing a person of committing a crime.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COFPS) - Scotland’s public prosecution service and death investigation authority. See: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (copfs.gov.uk)

Custody - when an individual is held in a police cell or in prison.

Defence agent - a designated or nominated legal representative acting on behalf of the accused who is a member of the Law Society of Scotland. See: Law Society of Scotland | Law Society of Scotland (lawscot.org.uk)

Fiscal - see Procurator Fiscal below.

High Court of Justiciary - Scotland's supreme criminal court. When sitting at first instance as a trial court, it hears the most serious criminal cases, such as murder and rape. See: About the High Court of Justiciary (scotcourts.gov.uk)

Justice Social Work - teams based in each local authority who have responsibility for delivering a range of support and other services for those involved in the justice system, including leading with Bail Supervision.

National Initial Case Processing (NICP) team - part of COPFS which has responsibility for the initial decision taken for most cases likely to be prosecuted in the summary courts. The creation of NICP was a phased project, with centralised marking structures established in the West and East at separate times. However, in 2015 whilst COPFS was still operating under a Federated structure, a national review was undertaken to assess the practicalities and benefits of establishing case marking as a national function. Following this national review the National Initial Case Processing Unit (NICP) was established and this unit became operational on 27 April 2015. From that date NICP began marking cases reported to COPFS by the police and other specialist reporting agencies, excluding custody and undertaking cases. From 16 November 2015 onwards, as part of a phased process, NICP also took responsibility for the marking of summary custodies.

Procurator Fiscal (PF) - Procurators Fiscal are civil servants qualified as Solicitors, Solicitor-Advocates, or Advocates and are independent prosecutors, constitutionally responsible to the Lord Advocate. They receive and consider reports from the Police and other agencies and decide whether or not to raise criminal proceedings in the public interest. The Procurators Fiscal (and Procurators Fiscal Depute) prosecute all criminal cases in the sheriff courts.

Remand - the situation whereby an accused person is refused bail and held in prison awaiting trial.

Solicitor - a designated or nominated legal representative acting on behalf of the accused who is a member of the Law Society of Scotland. See: Law Society of Scotland | Law Society of Scotland (lawscot.org.uk)

Solemn proceedings - prosecution of serious criminal cases before a judge and a jury in the High Court or Sheriff Court.

Standard Prosecution Report (SPR) - cases are reported by the police or other reporting agencies to COPFS by way of a Standard Prosecution Report. The SPR includes information on: the offence(s); the circumstances of the offence(s); an analysis of the evidence; and information on the background of the offender and, where appropriate, victims. The SPR is a nationally agreed document set which allows the transfer of information in an acceptable format and structure. See: Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Review Template (scotland.police.uk)

Summary proceedings - Court proceedings for criminal offences that are considered less serious and are dealt with by a sheriff or a justice of the peace.

Undertakings - formal agreements/documents signed by an accused who has been arrested and released by the police on the premise that they will appear at court at an agreed date and time (also referred to as police bail).

Warrant - a legal document granted by the court that gives officers acting on behalf of Police Scotland the authority to arrest someone.