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The rule of law could be undermined as victims of the most severe crimes face court delays of up to four years, the head of Scotland’s courts service has said.

Malcolm Graham warned of “unconscionable” delays to cases in the High Court, which deals with crimes including rape and murder, unless urgent action is taken.

The chief executive of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) said investing in new capacity and technology is the answer to long court delays in a system that looks “largely as it might have” a century ago.

He told Holyrood’s Criminal Justice Committee that many of the delays are down to positive changes in society, including tackling violence against women and historic sexual abuse.

MSPs also heard from a senior lawyer about the number of boys and men with an “entrenched pattern of abusive and sexually abusive behaviour”.

Tony Lenehan, vice dean of the Faculty of Advocates, said there had to be a better understanding of the sort of “violent pornography” consumed by many teenagers.

He said those committing abuse against women should “understand better that the consequences of those actions are very likely to be a very long time in prison”.

Despite rising cases, the Crown Office said it faces a £6 million budget reduction the equivalent of 100 staff.

It warned of difficult decisions that could damage the service for victims and witnesses.

Giving evidence to the committee on Wednesday, Mr Graham warned that without action, the justice system faces “unconscionable potential delays”.

He said: “The modelling that we published reported that victims could be waiting up to four years in the High Court if we don’t intervene and do something differently from the time that they report their crime to the time that the case is resolved.”

He warned that long justice delays “ultimately, potentially undermine the rule of law in the country”.

He said Scotland had “run out of road for dealing with this system challenge by just increasing the size of the system”, adding: “We would have to recruit an exorbitant number of additional people and, more importantly, we wouldn’t have enough courtrooms. We’d have to build new courthouses at scale.”

He said the system needs to modernise and that the use of technology, along with additional capacity, is the “answer to tackling this challenge”.

Scotland’s system is behind other countries, Mr Graham said, and “you could come into the criminal courts today and, with a few notable exceptions, it would look largely as it might have looked 100 years ago”.

Yvette Greener, chief executive of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said the Scottish Government’s spending review would require the service to “drop over £6 million out of our budget next year, which is the equivalent of 100 staff”.

She said the organisation had a plan to deliver savings but rising demand made it “exceptionally difficult”.

“If we are kept to that, we will be in a situation where we need to make some quite challenging decisions,” she told the committee as she warned of the impact on victims and witnesses.

The committee also heard concerns about sexually abusive behaviour among teenagers.

Mr Lenehan said he has encountered, “distressingly, many 17, 18, 19-year-olds” with “an entrenched pattern of abusive and sexually abusive behaviour”.

He called for more education to address choking, violent pornography and consent, describing the behaviour as “worryingly widespread”.

Mr Lenehan also warned that declining legal aid fees affect the profession’s ability to attract capable lawyers, telling MSPs that High Court fees were worth 37% less in real terms than in 2005, which would have an impact on the “calibre” of lawyers.