Landmark Justice Bill Passed

Transforming the System for Victims & Witnesses

A landmark Bill to place victims and witnesses at the heart of the justice system has been passed by Parliament.

The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill contains historic reforms to transform victims’ and witnesses’ experience of the justice system and ensure they are treated with compassion, while continuing to safeguard the rights of the accused.

Key reforms include abolishing the ‘not proven’ verdict in all criminal trials to help create a clearer, fairer and more transparent decision-making process. The jury majority required for a conviction will move from a simple majority to at least two-thirds to ensure fairness and balance.

The Bill will see trauma-informed practice embedded across the system to avoid victims being re-traumatised by the legal process. It will improve the Victim Notification Scheme and establish an independent Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland to champion their rights.

The legislation also includes significant new measures to meet the needs of survivors of sexual offences by:

• establishing a specialist Sexual Offences Court to enable complainers to give their best evidence while minimising the potential for re-traumatisation
• protecting the dignity of victims of sexual offences through an automatic lifelong right of anonymity
• providing an automatic right to independent legal representation for complainers in sexual offence cases when an application is made in court to lead evidence of the complainer’s sexual history or character
• creating a legal right for victims in rape and serious sexual offences cases to access transcripts of the court proceedings free of charge.  

This historic legislation will put victims and witnesses at the heart of a modern and fair justice system.

By changing culture, process and practice across the system, it will help to ensure victims are heard, supported, protected and treated with compassion, while the rights of the accused will continue to be safeguarded.

This legislation, which builds on progress in recent years, has been shaped by the voices of victims, survivors, their families and support organisations, and it is testimony to their tireless efforts to campaign for further improvement. I am grateful to those who bravely shared their experiences to inform the development of this legislation and pave a better, more compassionate path for others.

– JUSTICE SECRETARY ANGELA CONSTANCE

Background

The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 25 April 2023.

Amendments passed at Stage 2 and Stage 3 include measures to:

• strengthen protection for victims through reforms to Non Harassment Orders and other protective orders
• require that the Parole Board for Scotland must consider the safety and security of any victim and/or family members as part of decisions on release, and when setting licence conditions must consider whether an exclusion zone should be required as a condition to protect the safety and security or wellbeing of a victim and/or family members 
• require that the Parole Board for Scotland must take into account whether a prisoner has information about the disposal of a victim’s remains, but has not disclosed it, as part of release decision-making
• extend the rights of victims to make statements to the court, setting out how the crime has impacted them physically, emotionally and financially

Following Royal Assent, the legislation will be implemented in phases. More information will be available in due course.