Meeting of the Parliament 28 September 2017
No.
We can contrast this Scottish bill’s classification of behaviour as being coercive or controlling even when it has happened on only two occasions with the definition in the Serious Crime Act 2015 for England and Wales. That 2015 act refers to someone who
“repeatedly or continuously engages in behaviour towards another person”.
Home Office guidance on the 2015 act makes it clear that courts should
“look for evidence of a pattern of behaviour established over a period of time rather than ... one or two isolated incidents which do not appear to establish a pattern.”
A serious concern arises on this point: law should be clear. Those of us who, like me, have been involved in prosecution of such cases under the current system understand that. Those who have been involved know that these are sensitive matters that need to be looked at very carefully. As Mr Tickell said,
“legislators should get the law correct in the first place rather than trusting the prosecutors to use the law as it was intended.”
I am sure that that is what we are all trying to do here and what we agree we should be doing.
Without demurring in any way from the principles of the bill, I say that I am not entirely satisfied that all the concerns that have been raised have been addressed. The important point is that we want the bill to work, but for it to work, we need to see that it will work in practice because it is watertight, and that it will have its agreed intended effect.
16:35