Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
by PAUL GALLAGHER, Press & Journal
People with convictions account for nearly a tenth of crimes recorded by police in Scotland, the executive has revealed.
Ministers were asked in a parliamentary question what percentage of crimes had resulted in a conviction in each year since 1999, broken down by police force area.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said figures for recorded crime and court proceedings were not directly comparable for several reasons. Because of this, the statistics she gave were in a different form to those asked for by Banff and Buchan MSP and SNP deputy justice spokesman Stewart Stevenson.
Ms Jamieson provided figures for people who had been convicted in Scottish courts, expressed as a percentage of crimes recorded by the police. They showed that, in each year between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, the national level was 10%, except in 2000-01, when it was 9%.
In most years, Central Scotland Police had the highest or joint-highest rate, while Lothian and Borders was always lowest or joint-lowest. Grampian was on the national average, or 1% either side of it, in each year.
Ms Jamieson gave a number of caveats to the figures. She said:
"A person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim, and a crime may be recorded in one year and proceedings taken in a subsequent year."
Crimes committed by children will also generally be dealt with through the children's hearings system rather than courts, while some minor crimes can be dealt with by alternatives to prosecution such as fiscal fines. The implementation in April 2004 of the more victim-oriented Scottish Crime Recording Standard increased the numbers of minor crimes recorded by the police, such as minor crimes of vandalism and minor thefts."
Despite these qualifications, Mr Stevenson found the figures disappointing and said they suggested a "marginal proportion" of convictions.
"This is an extremely poor reflection on the effectiveness of our criminal justice system," he said.
"It is blatantly obvious that the police require more funding to enable them to effectively perform their role of crime detection and prevention.
"Funding and resources would clearly be far better invested in the police force than in a deeply flawed and costly ID card scheme."
for the original story click on Press & Journal
Karen Adam is now the MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast
