Court Culture and Adjournments in Criminal Cases: A Tale of Four Courts

This paper presents the results of research into the causes of adjournments in Scottish summary criminal cases. Rates and patterns of adjournments were found to differ considerably between courts and at least some of these could not be accounted for by differences in the nature of the cases in question. Court culture is investigated as an explanation for these differences. It is suggested that court culture can, to an extent, he imposed by judges and that the development by them of a more proactive culture in relation to adjournments might prevent unnecessary delays.