Meeting of the Parliament 09 May 2023
The Scottish Government loves to talk the talk when it comes to putting victims and witnesses at the heart of the justice system. It tells us that public protection is paramount, yet police officer numbers are at their lowest for 15 years. The Government insists that our officers are valued and supported, yet Police Scotland remains the only UK force without standard issue body-worn cameras. The Government says that it cares about domestic violence victims, yet a pilot of fully virtual trials—hailed as “groundbreaking” by the then justice secretary, Humza Yousaf—saw just 24 such trials actually take place.
The Government says that it wants to protect vulnerable female prisoners, yet in the six months since they opened, the two custody units in Glasgow and Dundee have never been more than half full. It says that it cares about child victims and sex crime victims, yet a child rape victim regrets seeking justice after her attacker was given community service.
I am sure that you get the idea, Presiding Officer. I could go on and fill my six minutes with similar examples of the chasm between the SNP Government’s public relations handout and the reality for people across Scotland. Today, in 2023, we hear the same painful stories from victims, who say that they are belittled, disrespected, excluded, ignored, dehumanised and retraumatised by the Scottish criminal justice system.
Today’s motion refers to a new NHS report, “Trauma Informed Justice: A Knowledge and Skills Framework for Working with Victims and Witnesses”. Crime victims and witnesses told the researchers that they experienced trauma in the process of being a witness, that the criminal justice process worsened their trauma, which hampered their recovery and put their lives in limbo, and that—as Jamie Greene acknowledged—with the right support, they could have provided better evidence. Finally, they said that being a witness caused such distress that they would avoid reporting offences in the future. That final point is damning. It is a sobering report that confirms the existence of persistent issues.
I have been the victim of a serious crime. I know how casually thoughtless and infuriating the system can be. My attacker is in prison and in the process of seeking parole. Just a few weeks ago, however, I had an unusual and unsettling experience. A colleague answered my persistently ringing office phone here in Parliament. The caller was a criminal justice social worker who needed to speak to me urgently. She was preparing a home background report in anticipation of my attacker’s eventual release. She named my address and wanted me to confirm it. She also wanted to know details of my surgeries. However, it emerged that that information would be shared with my attacker. I was sufficiently concerned to consider that the call might be bogus, but it was real.
I am grateful to the social worker, who is doing a grand job in tough circumstances. However, I cannot help but suspect that the proactive approach that I experienced is not typical for every victim. I am all for transparency. Scotland’s parole process remains stubbornly shrouded in secrecy. Victims should be entitled to know exactly what is going on and their views must be heard. That should be a universal right, not one that is offered on an ad hoc, unofficial basis. It should be communicated clearly and cleanly.
I now turn to some of today’s other speakers. Pam Gosal, Meghan Gallacher, Rona Mackay and others spoke about the difficulties that are still being experienced, specifically by women and children. It is notable that 13 of the 15 speakers in today’s debate are women.
Jamie Greene’s amendment quite rightly challenges a worrying Scottish Government proposal around electronic monitoring. The Government’s Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill seeks to count two days that an accused person spends subject to electronic bail monitoring as one day off an eventual prison sentence. We believe that that is wrong. It conflates bail conditions with sentencing, although they are two fundamentally different things, and it is opposed by Victim Support Scotland.
We will support the Labour amendment, which raises several issues, not least the perpetual problem of court delays.
Today’s Government motion refers to more pending legislation—its Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill. I am sure that Jamie Greene will be flattered that its name is so similar to that of his proposed victims bill. Angela Constance says that the tribute bill will put
“victims and witnesses at the heart of the justice system.”
We absolutely agree, and we will support the Government motion. However, I end on a note of caution: we have heard all this before. We need less talk and more action.