Scotland
Prosecution in Scotland
One service that prosecutes crime, investigates deaths, and investigates criminal allegations against on-duty police officers.
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Prosecution in Scotland is conducted by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, which describes itself as "Scotland's prosecution service and death investigation authority".
The death investigation role is not an add-on. COPFS states that death investigations are conducted on behalf of the Lord Advocate and cover all sudden, suspicious, accidental and unexplained deaths — work that in England and Wales belongs to coroners, who are part of the judiciary rather than the prosecution.
The service also states a role in investigating criminal allegations against on-duty police officers. Prosecution, death investigation and police-conduct investigation therefore sit in one service, which is an arrangement no other system published on this platform has.
How this system compares with others on five structural questions about the prosecution service is set out in who prosecutes, and where they sit.
Sources
Sources
About COPFS — Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (Scotland) · Government publication · link verified 2026-09-18
SCOPE: COPFS's own account of its remit. The service's about page, read directly. Supports that it describes itself as “Scotland's prosecution service and death investigation authority”; that death investigations are conducted by COPFS on behalf of the Lord Advocate and cover all sudden, suspicious, accidental and unexplained deaths; and that it has a role in investigating criminal allegations against on-duty police officers. The combination of prosecution, death investigation and police-conduct investigation in one service is what this source establishes; it establishes nothing about how any of them is conducted.