Committee
Justice 1 Committee, 14 Jan 2004
14 Jan 2004 · S2 · Justice 1 Committee
Item of business
Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Christine Vallely:
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We have mixed views on the issue. It is possible in the system with which we are familiar to issue a summons when you know that a victim or witness is not going to attend court. Summonses are used variably. Some CPS offices believe that a summons should not be issued to compel a victim of domestic violence, for example, to attend, because that has an impact. The corollary for us is whether to issue a warrant for arrest for breach of that summons and therefore to criminalise a person who is a victim of domestic violence.Some CPS prosecutors are happy to issue a summons, but not to follow that up with a warrant for breach. Magistrates' views also vary and the police have a different view about the matter. Their view is that a summons has to have teeth: if you are going to issue a summons, you have to show that you are prepared to follow it up.Victims of domestic violence in particular—we have heard this even from advocacy support agencies—feel that they are relieved of the burden of prosecuting the case themselves if they are compelled to attend. They can say to their partner, "Look, I have done everything. You wanted me to retract and I have retracted. Now I am going to be compelled and the court says that I have to go." However, there are still women who would not answer the summons. Certain issues should be taken into account in deciding whether to issue a warrant for arrest. Those include whether there are child protection issues and whether there are self-harm issues in respect of the woman herself. I do not think that we could say categorically, "Oh, yes—you must go ahead and issue the warrant, and you must arrest the person." These are very difficult situations in which case-by-case decisions must be made.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Item 2 is consideration of the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill. The committee will be aware that this is our last session of oral evidence on ...
Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Good morning. Can you give us a brief outline of the scope of the research that you have conducted? What courts did you examine? What was the nature of the o...
Christine Vallely (University of Wolverhampton):
Good morning, everyone. The research originated from the cracked and ineffective trials data for England and Wales, which showed that many cases collapsed be...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
You answered most of my questions. In a moment, I will pick up on a couple of points that you mentioned. I asked you whether some offences involved a greater...
Christine Vallely:
Yes. We found that non-attendance related predominantly to offences that involved violence, rather than property, harassment or even intimidation. Younger wi...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
Will you explain what cracked and ineffective cases are?
Christine Vallely:
Since about two years ago, magistrates all around the country have had to complete at the end of each case a form to say whether the case was effective—wheth...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that you said that a chaotic lifestyle did not seem to be a reason why people do not turn up to trial. Perhaps it is a ...
Professor Dee Cook (University of Wolverhampton):
That is correct. Our original research question tested that. It asked what it was about some victims and witnesses and their lives that rendered them either ...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
You mentioned early guilty pleas, the idea of which did not seem to be getting through to the accused. Could you expand on that a little? The idea is that, i...
Christine Vallely:
There are a variety of reasons for that. One question is at what stage the signal should be given to the defendant that there will be a discount for an early...
Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab):
Lab
You have gone through the principal reasons for non-attendance and comprehensively debunked the notion of the witness deficit—that is not where the problem l...
Professor Cook:
Non-attendance is a specific issue for victims in domestic violence cases, but the interesting point is that, in general, the patterns and numbers are not mu...
Marlyn Glen:
Lab
Did witnesses for the defence attend court more or less often?
Christine Vallely:
We did not do research on the defence, because our brief confined us to considering civilian prosecution witnesses. However, in the course of the research, w...
Professor Cook:
The case study of victims who were supported by the scheme indicated that more than 90 per cent of them turned up on the day. Often the support is relatively...
Marlyn Glen:
Lab
You have talked about the factors affecting witnesses. Can you comment briefly on the risk assessment framework that you recommend?
Professor Cook:
By the end of the research, we came to the conclusion that the risk assessment framework would be a framework for issues that the criminal justice system nee...
Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con):
Con
I want to tease out what lies behind non-attendance in domestic violence cases. Is it only the complainer who does not attend, or does non-attendance extend ...
Professor Cook:
We are just completing a piece of work on specialist domestic violence courts for the CPS. We have found that it is rare that witnesses other than the victim...
Margaret Mitchell:
Con
I was wondering about cases where the victim does not have community support and the couple have apparently resolved the problem themselves but the violence ...
Professor Cook:
There is a lot of evidence that repeat victimisation is dramatically reduced with the advent of specialist domestic violence courts and where there is co-ord...
Margaret Mitchell:
Con
That is helpful, thank you.
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
I seek clarification on one point. You talked about a reduction of 35 per cent. That sounds highly significant. Is that just in domestic violence cases?
Professor Cook:
Yes. There is a 35 per cent reduction in domestic violence cases.
Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab):
Lab
You have talked about the need for continuity and co-ordination of support for witnesses and you said that that would tackle the root problem of non-attendan...
Christine Vallely:
In mid-May, when Professor Cook and I were in the middle of our case study, we were suddenly asked to evaluate that scheme, which was not part of our origina...
Bill Butler:
Lab
Were the police the lead in the pilot?
Christine Vallely:
In the west midlands scheme, the witness care team—such as it was—was specifically located in CPS offices. In the best model, police witness warners—who are ...
Bill Butler:
Lab
Was the scheme changing the culture and the approach to the problem?