Justice of the Peace courts

Justice of the Peace courts are an integral part of Scotland's criminal justice system, hearing almost a third of the criminal cases which come before courts in Scotland.

What sentences can Justices of the Peace impose?

Justices of the Peace can impose custodial sentences of up to two months, or fines of up to £2,500. The Scottish Government is currently reviewing the availability of community sentences, and has indicated that it intends to make effective non-custodial sentences available to all Justice of the Peace courts.

What sort of cases come before a Justice of the Peace court?

Cases which typically come up before the Justice of the Peace courts include motoring offences, breach of the peace, assault, theft and shoplifting. These offences often cause distress or aggravation to local communities. It is crucial that they are dealt with promptly and fairly.

The summary justice system comprises all court cases which do not involve a jury and makes up 95% of the criminal cases that go through Scotland’s courts.

Justices of the Peace and Sheriffs both deal with summary cases although the Sheriff has greater sentencing powers and deals with the cases which are not heard in the Justice of the Peace courts.

Justice of the Peace courts are affected by major changes, which are currently being implemented in Scotland’s summary justice system.

A major aim of the changes is to ensure that Justices of the Peace have the skills and training to enable them to hear some of the cases which were previously heard in the Sheriff Courts.

This would allow all cases to be heard more quickly than is currently the case.  As a result, major changes have been introduced to the training and recruitment of Justices of the Peace. A system of appraisal for Justices of the Peace has also been introduced.

The Justice of the Peace Courts map (PDF, 713Kb) shows the location of the District or Justice of the Peace Courts in Scotland and the Sheriffdom where they are located.