Encyclopedia > Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is a Government Department in Scotland that is responsible for the public prosecution of alleged criminals.
The Service employs both civil servants who carry out administration duties and Solicitors (Deputes) who represent the Crown in Court.
The service is headed by the Lord Advocate and all Prosecutions are carried out in his name. The day to day running of the service is done by the Chief Executive and the management board who are based in the HQ in Edinburgh
At the High Court of Justiciary level Prosecutions are done by the staff of the Crown Office and they are represented in Court by Advocate Deputes (AD's). Advocate Deputes are senior solicitors who are able to conduct Murder and other serious Criminal trials on behalf of the Crown.
The Procurator Fiscal (PF) is the local Prosecutor in Scotland and he/she will have under them a team of Deputes who will represent the Fiscal in Court. A large number of Scottish Solicitors spend a period of their career as a Fiscal Depute.
Each Fiscal office jurisdiction will correspond to the local Sheriff Court jurisdiction and most of the Fiscal office's in Scotland are either in or near the Sheriff Court.
The Fiscal staff are responsible for a wide range of tasks which include the preparation of Court papers and dealing with queries from victims, witnesses and Police.
The CrownOffice and ProcuratorFiscalService provides independent public prosecution of criminal offences in Scotland (as the more recent Crown Prosecution Service does in England and Wales) and has extensive responsibilities in the investigation and prosecution of crime.
The CrownOffice is headed by the Lord Advocate, in whose name all prosecutions are carried out, and employs Advocates Depute (for the High Court of Justiciary) and ProcuratorsFiscal (for the Sheriff Courts) as public prosecutors.
CrownOffice and ProcuratorFiscalService The CrownOffice and ProcuratorFiscalService (COPFS) is responsible for the prosecution of crime in Scotland, the investigation of sudden or suspicious deaths and complaints against the police.
The CrownOffice and ProcuratorFiscalService (COPFS) is a Department within the Scottish Executive, headed by the Lord Advocate, assisted by the Solicitor-General, and is responsible for independent public prosecution and deaths investigation in Scotland.
In larger districts, the district procuratorfiscal is assisted by a procuratorfiscal depute.
The procuratorfiscal is under an obligation to report certain categories of death to the CrownOffice, for Crown counsel to decide as to the future conduct of the case and as to whether it is necessary for a prosecution to be brought or a fatal accident inquiry to be held.
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