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An Evaluation of The Protection From Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001
Footnotes
1. This contrasts with the common law powers of arrest that are available to the police only if there is a reasonable belief a crime has been committed. In both instances, however, the decision to arrest is not mandatory and is at the discretion of the attending police officers.
2. It is not possible to have interim interdict or NHO at the same time, it has to be the one or the other.
3. Justice Committee, 9 th Report, 2000. Proposal for a Protection from Abuse Bill. SP Paper 221, Remit and membership, Remit and Membership, p.2.4. ibid., p.4.
5. ibid. p.5.
6. ibid. p.7.
7. ibid p.7.
8 .ibid. Notes of Meetings, p.1 and p.13. The average contribution of 620 is published in Slab Annual Report 1997/98. Personal correspondence from SLAB has confirmed that the average contribution is now 849 and is payable by 30% of those in receipt of legal aid. Since December 2002 the repayment period has been 20 months.
9. Reference SSI, No. 128.
10. About 20 postal questionnaires were sent to a men's health organisation.
11. It was not possible to interview the Procurator Fiscal from Stonehaven, however, an interview with the Procurator Fiscal in Aberdeen was conducted instead
12. Solicitors from Stirling area invited to participate in the research did not respond.
13. Of the 3 remaining cases, two of the male pursuers had previously been violent and abusive to the female defender and in the third case, the male pursuer was seeking divorce on the basis of 'unreasonable behaviour'. Physical abuse was not reported in the initial writ which states, 'she would constantly belittle him. She would constantly complain. She would taunt him in relation to her sexual exploits'.
14. All quotations are taken from the initial writs unless otherwise indicated.
15. All quotations are taken from the initial writs unless otherwise indicated.
16. Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
17. For each case, a maximum of 4 violent incidents could be cited as evidence. For each incident, it was possible to code for a maximum of 2 types of violent behaviour. In some cases only one type of violent act was reported whilst in other cases more than 2 violent acts were reported: in the latter cases, the most serious act was recorded.
18. For each case, a maximum of 4 violent and abusive incidents could be cited as evidence. For each incident, it was possible to code for a maximum of 2 types of emotionally abusive behaviours. In some cases only one type of abuse act was reported whilst in other cases more than 2 violent acts were reported.
19. The Data Protection Act 1998 prohibited pursuing this information by other means.
20. 'other' refers to step, adopted or foster children
21. 'Crave' is a legal term meaning request - normally for some legal order. The latter term will be used in the body of this report
22. Legal practice suggests that it would be rare to find an application with only one crave. Most applications would contain a minimum of 2 craves, normally one for a civil protection order and at least one other, usually for an expenses order.
23. In each court record a maximum of 4 craves could be coded and the respective request for orders recorded.
24. In those cases where interim interdicts were granted or cases were sisted, no final outcomes be recorded in the court records.
25. It should be remembered that this indicates that no such outcomes were reported in the court records during the research period: such an outcome may have been reported later.
26. 'Other' refers to step, foster or adopted children.
27. In each case a maximum of 4 craves could be coded and the respective request for orders recorded.
28. Note that one case might crave 4 orders such as an interdict, an interdict with a POA, an expenses order and an NHO. In such instances all 4 requests might be granted or, more likely, 1-2 orders would be made.
29. Non- harassment orders may not be granted as frequently because (a) the requirement to show a 'course of conduct', (b) evidence supporting a 'course of conduct' is needed and (c) lack of a power of arrest with this order may render it less desirable.
30. Other included step, adopted or foster children.
31. This number is related to the fact that we had a good response rate from Hemat Gryffe Women's Aid; an organisation who deal predominantly with Asian, black and ethnic minority women.
32. Numbers are disproportionately high here because these women's groups distributed the questionnaires to the women they were working with.
33. Figures are not available on how many breached orders are pursued; the Financial Memorandum on the PFA Act suggests a figure of as little as 30 orders a year.
34. Note this is being further strengthened as powers of arrest can now be attached to NHO's under s49 Criminal Justice Act 2003.
35. For example in this sample respondents often referred to 'wife abuse'.
36 .Subsequent to this comment being made in interview Regulation 18 of the Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) Regulations 2002 was passed. Prior to these new provisions solicitors were responsible for recovering any contribution payable by clients to SLAB. As a result many solicitors asked clients to pay this contribution up-front to cover this obligation and to ensure that if the board refused urgent legal aid funds were available to cover their fee. Since December 2002, any contribution is paid directly to SLAB by the client, in up to 20 monthly instalments. In the event that urgent legal aid is refused, the solicitor will require to recover any fee from their client.
37. The research team were also notified of two breached NHOs, which had been granted against neighbours. These were excluded from our analysis.
38. Meetings of the Parliament, 11 January 2001, col. 174, SPOR. The responses to this consultation were not published but are summarised in this speech.
39. The procurator fiscal rather than the police will decide if a case will be prosecuted, which charges will be brought and both the type of trial i.e. summary (without a jury) or solemn (with a jury) and the court. This decision making process is referred to as 'marking'.
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