Meeting of the Parliament 17 September 2025
Presiding Officer,
“We are treated like outsiders throughout the whole process.”
“I was told by a police detective that I wasn’t raped—it was consensual.”
“When you are on the witness stand you should not be made to feel embarrassed, humiliated or undermined by someone.”
“In our court system you are totally humiliated. It was the most degrading experience I have been through.”
“You are made to feel as if you are a bit of evidence that just gets put on a shelf and is brought out when you are needed and you are just disregarded afterwards.”
As we close the debate, I return to the people who are at the heart of it—those who have survived sexual violence, those who have stood as witnesses in court and those who have too often been revictimised by the very system that is meant to protect them. Their words should be in our minds this afternoon.
Throughout the bill process, we have heard the evidence from Lady Dorrian’s review, from the Lord Advocate and from those who are on the front line of support, including Rape Crisis Scotland, Victim Support Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and many others. Their message has been consistent—our current system is not working well. Survivors face long delays, hostile environments and retraumatising procedures. Change is not only desirable; it is imperative.
The bill is a step towards that change. The statutory duty of trauma-informed practice, new protections for complainers, reforms to victim notification and the introduction of independent legal representation are important and welcome. Survivors have called for those measures, which can rebuild confidence in the justice system. However, we must also be honest about where we are falling short, as others have said.
The Greens have been clear that we need stronger guarantees of early and consistent support for survivors, and not just the possibility of referral but the expectation of it. We need all survivors to have access to legal advice and representation for as long as they need it. We need our criminal and civil justice systems to be better connected, to talk to each other and to ensure that women and children are not used as pawns in someone else’s game. We need the reforms that we will deliver on paper today to translate into meaningful change in people’s lives. Survivors deserve more than symbolic progress.
We must also guard against complacency. Passing the bill is not the end of the journey. Trauma-informed practice is not achieved by statute alone; it must be embedded in training, in scheduling and in the culture of our courts. The Lord Advocate and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service must play their part by ensuring that decisions are explained clearly and respectfully and that the pursuit of justice does not add to survivors’ pain.