This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Help for miscarriage of justice victims
14/03/2005
Victims of miscarriages of justice will benefit from
Executive funding worth £50,000 a year.
Ministers have decided to fund the Miscarriages of
Justice Organisation (Scotland) who will provide a
freephone helpline, advice and assistance and longer term
training and counselling.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said:
"Scotland has a long and proud history for fairness and
justice. However, any civilised society has to be willing
to scrutinise examples of where its systems have got things
wrong. That applies as much to the justice service as to
anything else no matter how rarely miscarriages of justice
occur.
"In 1999 we set up a Scottish Criminal Cases Review
Commission which now refers relevant cases to the Court of
Appeal. But the toll taken on victims of a miscarriage of
justice is not simply erased by any compensation they may
ultimately receive.
"As we continue to develop a justice service that is
fair for victims, fair for witnesses and fair for the
accused we have to acknowledge a gap in provision for those
who have been wrongly jailed. That is why I have today
announced core funding for MOJO Scotland: to get help to
these people when they need it.
"We examined a range of ideas including the possibility
of funding a retreat. However, we have concluded that
funding a mixture of advice, support, training and
counselling is the right approach. One I hope will be
welcomed by those few people who ever have course to need
it."
John McManus, of MOJO (Scotland), said:
"I very much welcome this funding. It will enable us to
help innocent victims of our judicial system back into
society after their release from prison."
The founder of MOJO, Paddy Joe Hill, said:
"I am delighted with this step and the fact that the
Scottish Executive has recognised the importance and need
to provide funding for this service."
The grant over the next two years will be £53,566 in
2005-2006, and £49,416 in 2006-2007.
The grant is payable under section 10 of the Social Work
(Scotland) Act 1968 - this allows funding for groups to
provide social work functions.
It is dependent on conditions to ensure proper
monitoring of the expenditure of public money, as is
standard in grants of this type. These conditions include
the requirement to submit reports on how the grant is being
spent and to submit copies of audited accounts at
appropriate times.
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission was set up in
1999. As at 1 January 2005 there have been nine successful
appeals following referrals to the High Court from the
SCCRC.