Scottish Government

SCOTTISH STRATEGY FOR VICTIMS PROGRESS REPORT

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Ministerial Foreword

"When I launched the Executive's Scottish Strategy for Victims in January 2001, I set a challenging agenda for the Executive, the agencies within the Scottish criminal justice system and those involved in delivering support and information to victims. Many victims of crime had long felt that they had been neglected, that they were kept on the margins of the criminal justice system, and that they had no way of getting the support, information and advice they needed. We set out to change this and to ensure that, where crime does occur, victims of crime do not also become victims of the system.

The Scottish Strategy for Victims has acted as a framework for the development of services for victims. Since its publication, each of the main agencies and organisations have developed Action Plans to implement the aims of the Strategy and these have formed the basis for unprecedented progress on victims' issues over the last two years.

This document sets out some of the many ways in which the criminal justice agencies and those providing services to victims of crime have improved the service that they provide. It demonstrates that the criminal justice system is about people - the people who are served by the system.

When we launched the Scottish Strategy for Victims we promised to work together in partnership with all those involved in the criminal justice system and most importantly with the victims of crime themselves, to give victims their place at the heart of the Scottish criminal justice system.

This report on progress demonstrates that, in only two years, we have taken significant steps towards fulfilling that promise. I am not saying that this is the end of the process _ there is still a good deal of work to be done. However, I thank all of those who have worked so hard over the last two years and hope that the next two years are as productive in involving and supporting victims within the criminal justice system."

Jim Wallace, MSP

Deputy First Minister, Minister for Justice

Introduction

The Scottish Strategy for Victims was launched by the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice, Jim Wallace, in January 2001.

The Strategy is owned by all agencies within the Scottish criminal justice system, namely the Association of Chief Police Officers (Scotland), representing all the Scottish Police Forces, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Court Service and the Scottish Prison Service. In addition Victim Support Scotland, as the largest victim support organisation in Scotland, has played a crucial role in shaping the document.

This approach was adopted to ensure that all of these agencies could both endorse the principles and actions contained in the Strategy and work in partnership to improve the service offered to victims of crime in Scotland.

The Strategy is based on a number of key principles, including:

• A recognition of the importance of the victim and the need to provide practical and emotional support to assist the victim to recover, and to help towards prevention of further crime or secondary victimisation;
• A commitment to provide explanations for victims about the criminal justice and other processes with which they are involved;
• A recognition that victims have a legitimate interest in the cases with which they are involved and so have a contribution to make;
• A commitment to offer victims information on the progress of their cases; and
• A recognition that victims should be enabled to have a voice throughout all stages of the criminal justice system.

The policy objectives underpinning the three main aims of the Strategy are:

• the provision of emotional and practical support to victims;
• the provision of information to victims; and
• greater participation of victims in the criminal justice system.

The Scottish Strategy for Victims contained a commitment to report on progress and this is the first formal report on the progress which has been made since the publication of the Strategy in January 2001.

All of the agencies in the Scottish criminal justice system are working in partnership to develop these objectives. This report commences with a brief description of the infrastructure set up to assist with the improvement of the service offered to victims of crime in Scotland and then goes on to describe some of the advances which have been made against the three policy objectives of the Strategy.

Infrastructure

Following the publication of the Strategy, each agency produced its own Action Plans setting out how it would implement the Strategy. The main achievements and key aspects of future plans are highlighted in this report. The full plans can be obtained from each individual agency. One important achievement is that that all agencies have developed their plans, not in isolation, but in partnership with every other agency.

The Victim Steering Group has responsibility for overseeing the work being done by its constituent agencies and for encouraging and co-ordinating their efforts. It has been restructured and now includes representation from all agencies involved in the Scottish criminal justice system and from victim support organisations.

The Victim Steering Group is supported by the Victims of Crime Branch - a unit established within the Scottish Executive's Justice Department to develop and implement policy on victims' issues. It works with all of the agencies in the Scottish criminal justice system, drawing on their expertise and providing support, information and advice when required.

The diagram on the following page illustrates how the infrastructure operates to maximise the flow of information between victims, front-line service providers and the Victim Steering Group. This allows improvements to be made to the support provided to victims and increase their level of participation in the Scottish criminal justice system.

¹ Membership

Scottish Executive, Crown Office and procurator Fiscal Service, Scottish Court Service, Scottish Prison Service, Victim Support Scotland, Law Society, Sheriffs' Association of Chief Police Officers' Scotland

Support

Delivering Better Support Systems

When an individual becomes a victim of crime, they will turn to the police, courts and prosecution service for action to deal with the offence itself, but they may also need support in helping them to deal with the impact of the crime on their life.

In delivering better support systems, we have:

• Resolved the problems with referrals to support organisations resulting from the Data Protection Act. Working with ACPO (S), Victim Support Scotland and the Information Commissioner, the new arrangements have resulted in a substantial increase in referrals, so that more victims are being offered access to the support that they want.
• Established the Victim Information and Advice service. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has set up this service in 6 of the 11 Procurator Fiscal regions. It offers case specific information and advice to certain victims of crime, gives information on legal procedures and offers victims the opportunity to discuss issues that concern them. Since its inception, the Victim Information and Advice service has helped around 6,500 people across Scotland.
• Rolled out the Witness Service to all 49 Sheriff Courts in Scotland. The Witness Service is operated by Victim Support Scotland and funded by the Executive's Justice Department. It offers general information and advice to people attending court as well as arranging, on request, pre-trial court visits for witnesses. The service offered by the Witness Service was accessed by 31,364 people between April 2001 and March 2002 and 25,705 people between April 2002 and September 2002.
• Refurbished court buildings to provide separate rooms for prosecution and defence witnesses. The Scottish Courts Service have now completed work in 72% of court buildings.
• Revised the guidance for defence precognition agents. The Law Society of Scotland has issued a Code of Conduct setting out the responsibilities of solicitors in relation to precognition of witnesses, stressing the need to be aware of any special requirements, especially for vulnerable witnesses.
• Published a consultation document, "Vital Voices", in May 2002 to look at current arrangements relating to vulnerable witnesses, to consider whether these arrangements needed to be extended and whether there were alternative ways in which witnesses who may have particular needs can be assisted in providing their 'best evidence'. The report on the analyses of responses to the consultation was published in December 2002 and the Executive is now considering whether legislative changes should be made in this area.
• Legislated on the questioning in court of victims of sexual offences. The Sexual Offences (Procedure and Evidence) Scotland Act 2002 prohibits the accused from personally questioning the complainer in sexual offence cases and provides greater protection from intrusive questioning about the complainer's character and sexual history.
• Brought forward proposals to establish a better support system for child witnesses, together with draft guidance on taking evidence from child witnesses before and during court proceedings, a draft code of practice on the provision of therapy prior to court proceedings, and, a code of conduct on court familiarisation visits. This is part of the Executive's Justice Department's work on taking forward the recommendations of the Lord Advocate's Working Group on Child Witness Support in partnership with other key agencies.
• Established a National Group to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland. This Group has already reviewed legislation on domestic abuse, made recommendations for its improvement and developed prevention and training strategies. The domestic abuse advertising campaign, which commenced in 1998, is also continuing. The campaign was taken into new media in December 2001 with outdoor posters, posters in female washrooms, beer mats and a new website. A new TV advert "Dolls House" was first screened on 26 December 2002 and will continue through January.
• Established the Refuge Development Programme which has provided 10 million to improve and increase refuge provision over three years from 2001-02.
• Extended the Witness Protection Scheme, which was piloted in the Strathclyde police area, so that it is available in all police force areas in Scotland. The scheme provides assistance with protection to witnesses (and their families) who are considered to be at serious risk.
• Improved the support provided by the police in relation to repeat victimisation, racist crime, homophobic crime, stalking and harassment, and improved awareness of the needs of the elderly victims of crime.

In these ways, and in many more, the agencies involved in the Scottish criminal justice system are constantly trying to improve the service provided to victims of crime in Scotland.

Information

Delivering Better Information

Becoming a victim of crime can make an individual feel powerless and a lack of information about what is happening with their case can add to these feelings of helplessness. To many victims, the criminal justice process itself may seem remote and difficult to understand. However, access to information can do a great deal to help victims feel more in control.

In delivering better information, we have:

• Published the Victims of Crime Information leaflet. Developed in consultation and partnership with all of the Scottish criminal justice agencies, the leaflet seeks to provide information on the criminal justice process in a clear and accessible way. Since October 2001, the Executive's Justice Department has distributed over 225,000 leaflets to hospitals, doctors' surgeries, libraries, universities and community centres. We have also translated the victims' leaflet into 6 community languages, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindu, Chinese, Urdu and Arabic, with over 28,000 leaflets distributed so far.
• Launched the Victims of Crime in Scotland Website ( www.scottishvictimsofcrime.co.uk ). It builds on the information in the Victims of Crime Information Leaflet and enables victims of crime the opportunity to feed back views to the Executive. The Website provides links to criminal justice agency and Victim Support Scotland websites.
• Included provisions in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, which give certain victims of crime the right to receive information about their assailant's release from prison and to be told of any special conditions attached to their release.
• Revisited all police force websites to ensure the availability of support information for victims of crime.
• Evaluated the use being made of the various leaflets available to victims of crime from criminal justice agencies to ensure they are meeting victims' needs.
• Piloted a scheme between Grampian Police and the Victim Information and Advice service, which notifies victims of crime when the accused is granted bail at court.

Participation

Delivering Greater Participation

In Scotland there are strong legal traditions, based on an adversarial system of justice, in which the Crown stands in the place of the victim in criminal cases. Scotland is rightly proud of a judicial system which seeks to balance the need to prosecute cases robustly with the need to demonstrate fairness to the accused person. Sometimes the system may make victims feel dispossessed because there is no apparent role for them in the process, other than that of a witness. There is evidence to show that when victims are given the opportunity to articulate their views and concerns, they regain some control over the situation and their overall satisfaction with the system increases.

In delivering greater participation, we have:

• Consulted on a Victim Statements Scheme. This scheme is intended to give victims of certain crimes the right to submit a written statement to the court setting out the physical, emotional and financial impact that the crime has had on them. The consultation response demonstrated wide support for the proposals. Provisions on victim statements have now been included in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill and, subject to parliamentary approval of these provisions, we hope to pilot victim statements schemes in two or three areas over the next two years.
• Included provisions in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, which give certain victims of crimes the right to make written representations to the Scottish Ministers, who will pass these on to the Parole Board before a decision is taken on the release of their assailant and on the licence conditions to be imposed. The Parole Board will consider any information it receives and focus on the potential risk the offender poses to the community.

The Future

The Scottish Strategy for Victims is a living document, which will continue to evolve. Whilst much has been achieved, all of the criminal justice agencies and Victim Support Scotland are planning to introduce further improvements in the services and the support they offer to victims of crime.

In improving services and support for victims of crime, we will:

• Extend the Witness Service to High Courts.
• Extend the Victim Information and Advice service to all Procurator Fiscal areas.
• Pilot the Victim Statements Scheme, subject to parliamentary approval.
• Establish a child witness support system, subject to the response to the consultation exercise.
• Publish final national guidance and codes of practice on child witness support.
• Improve the position of victims in Children's Hearings
• Continue to refurbish court premises to provide separate rooms for prosecution and defence witnesses.
• Introduce alternative crime reporting facilities to police forces, to help improve the reporting of homophobic crime, racist crime or domestic abuse.
• Promote protocols to continue to improve joint working between criminal justice agencies.
• Publish information packs for families of homicide victims and of road deaths.
• Improve the provision of information in other languages.
• Conduct a Scottish victimisation study.
• Review the existing recommendations for levels of refuge provision for victims of domestic violence.
• Develop a training strategy on domestic violence.