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1 The pilot has since been rolled out to a fourth site, in Glasgow in January 2024.
2 Reid Howie Associates, Evaluation of the pilot domestic abuse court (2007).
3 SCTS, The summary case management (SCM) pilot: Interim evaluation (2023).
4 Joint protocol between Police Scotland and COPFS – In partnership challenging domestic abuse (2023).
5 Scottish Government, Equally safe: Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls (2023).
6 Scottish Government, The Vision for Justice in Scotland (2022).
7 COPFS, Strategic Plan 2023-27.
8 COPFS, Statement of prosecution policy in cases involving domestic abuse (2022).
9 The prosecution of domestic abuse cases in the Justice of the Peace Court tends to be rare.
10 COPFS, Domestic abuse and stalking charges in Scotland 2022-23 (2023).
11 Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bil: Policy Memorandum (2017) at paragraphs 3, 5 and 18.
12 COPFS, Domestic abuse and stalking charges in Scotland 2022-23 (2023).
13 Data supplied to HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland (IPS) by COPFS.
14 Only 11% of respondents to the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey who experienced partner abuse in the previous 12 months reported the incident to the police. See Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2019/20: Main findings (2021).
15 In 2021-22, only 39% of domestic abuse incidents recorded by the police resulted in the recording of a crime or offence. See Scottish Government, Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 2021-22 (2022).
16 SCTS, Quarterly Criminal Courts Statistics – Bulletin 22 – Quarter 2 2023/24 (2023).
17 Further information about the pilot is available in SCTS, The summary case management pilot: The transition from EPR and way forward (2022).
18 SCTS, The summary case management (SCM) pilot: Interim evaluation (2023).
19 Such as N Lombard & K Proctor, Women’s lived experiences of coercive control, stalking and related crimes, as they progress through the justice system (March 2023); Houghton et al, Domestic abuse court experiences research: the perspectives of victims and witnesses in Scotland (2023); Scottish Government, The domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018: emerging findings of male victims’ experiences of the criminal justice system (2023); and N Lombard, K Proctor & N Whiting, Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 and the criminal justice system – Women’s experiences two years in; the emerging findings (2022); E Forbes, Victims’ experiences of the criminal justice response to domestic abuse: Beyond GlassWalls (2021).
20 ASSIST is a West of Scotland-based service that supports those who have experienced domestic abuse with a case going through the criminal justice system, while Dundee ASSIST, a separate organisation, offers a similar service in Dundee. EDDACS is a court advocacy and support service operated by Edinburgh Women’s Aid. Children 1st is a national organisation that helps children and their families recover from the impact of childhood trauma and abuse. Sacro’s Caledonian Women and Children’s Service provides support to women and children in Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Falkirk whose partner/father has been convicted of domestic abuse. Aura is a domestic abuse support service in North Lanarkshire. FearFree is a national service supporting men and those in the LGBT+ community who have experienced domestic abuse. Aditi is a service for Black and Asian ethnic minority women in Edinburgh who have experienced domestic abuse or honour-based violence.
21 We considered the case to be concluded when a plea was entered, when a verdict was returned or when a decision was taken to discontinue proceedings. We did not include any additional time taken for sentencing, as that is outwith the control of COPFS. Sentence was deferred in many cases meaning that, from the perspective of the victim and the accused, the case may not have been considered concluded until much more time had passed.
22 For further information on these early challenges, see SCTS, The summary case management (SCM) pilot: Interim evaluation (2023).
23 On receipt of the Standard Prosecution Report, COPFS may decide to add, delete or amend charges. See from paragraph 140.
24 In these cases, the main charges were malicious mischief, abduction and theft.
25 Throughout this report, percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding.
26 Joint protocol between Police Scotland and COPFS – In partnership challenging domestic abuse (2023).
27 COPFS, Strategic Plan 2023-27 (2023).
28 COPFS, Learning and development strategy 2020-2023 (2021).
29 Further comment is made on shadowing opportunities in paragraph 520.
30 Chaired by the Deputy Crown Agent for Operational Support, this committee meets quarterly. It is made up of a range of senior staff from across COPFS who collectively inform training and learning policy.
31 NHS Education for Scotland, Trauma-informed justice: A knowledge and skills framework for working with victims and witnesses (2023).
32 COPFS, Strategic Plan 2023-27 (2023).
33 COPFS, Executive Board meeting minutes (4 October 2023).
34 IPS, Inspection of COPFS practice in relation to sections 274 and 275 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (2022).
35 A marking depute is a prosecutor who makes an initial prosecutorial decision in relation to a report received from the police.
36 A full list of the additional information to be included in domestic abuse SPRs is available in Joint protocol between Police Scotland and COPFS – In partnership challenging domestic abuse (2023) at paragraph 49.
37 Joint protocol between Police Scotland and COPFS – In partnership challenging domestic abuse (2023) at paragraph 4.
38 In its review of domestic abuse, HMICS notes that complainers may be reluctant or not ready to answer the risk assessment questions, leading to an artificially low score and inaccurate assessment of risk. Officers are permitted to raise the level of risk, using their professional judgement and experience from their observations of the incident. HMICS, Thematic inspection of domestic abuse – Phase 1 (2023) at paragraph 168.
39 Joint protocol between Police Scotland and COPFS – In partnership challenging domestic abuse (2023) at paragraph 33.
40 Joint protocol between Police Scotland and COPFS – In partnership challenging domestic abuse (2023) at paragraph 38.
41 Joint protocol between Police Scotland and COPFS – In partnership challenging domestic abuse (2023) at paragraph 30.
42 Police Scotland, Quarter 4 YTD Performance Report: April 2022 to March 2023, at page 92. This data is in respect of all offences, not just those relating to domestic abuse.
43 SCTS, The summary case management (SCM) pilot: Interim evaluation (2023) at paragraphs 1.5 to 1.8.
44 Section 234AZA Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
45 When an accused is granted bail, they are subject to ‘standard conditions’ that they must appear at every court hearing, must not commit an offence, must not interfere with witnesses or obstruct the course of justice, must not behave in a manner which causes fear, alarm or distress to witnesses, and must be available for any enquiries or reports that may be required to assist the court (section 24(4)(a) of the 1995 Act).
46 See from paragraph 346 and Recommendation 17.
47 Lack of preparation time for deputes is explored further at paragraph 210.
48 For example, a depute prepares and manages all the cases calling in an intermediate diet court on the same day, rather than having deputes come and go to deal with their own cases.
49 SCTS, The summary case management (SCM) pilot: Interim evaluation (2023) at page 17.
50 Further information about disclosure can be found in COPFS, Disclosure Manual (2014).
51 SCTS, The summary case management (SCM) pilot: Interim evaluation (2023) at pages 14 and 17.
52 For further information, see Practice Note No. 3 of 2022.
53 In the summary case management pilot cases in Dundee, the focus was on case management hearings, rather than PIDMs.
54 A new plea surgery in Glasgow was introduced in late 2023 to facilitate early pleas and avoid the number of cases calling at trial. We were not able to consider this initiative in detail as it was introduced after our evidence gathering had concluded, but early indications were that it was promising. SCTS, New initiative leads to early resolution of over 130 cases at Glasgow Sheriff Court in three days, 13 November 2023.
55 SCTS, The summary case management (SCM) pilot: Interim evaluation (2023) at paragraph 1.22(i).
56 The court can adjourn a case ex proprio motu (at its own discretion) in certain circumstances, such as lack of available court time.
57 This lack of exploration of appropriate special measures is examined in more detail from paragraph 320.
58 If a prosecutor decides to ‘not call’ a case then it automatically comes to an end without it calling in court and without any judicial decision on it. To desert a case pro loco et tempore is a motion made by the prosecutor after calling the case in court, before the sheriff, to bring proceedings to an end without the case being heard. In both these situations, there is the option for the Crown to re-raise these cases in the future in certain circumstances.
59 Scottish Government, The Vision for Justice in Scotland (2022), at page 29.
60 Cases being dealt with under the summary case management pilot in Dundee, Hamilton and Paisley are currently excluded from the data. Data provided by COPFS.
61 Reid Howie Associates, Evaluation of the pilot domestic abuse court (2007) at paragraph 4.3.
62 Scottish Government, Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 – Interim reporting requirement (2023) at page 51.
63 The target also only measures custody and undertaking cases, but not report cases. While they only made up 9% of cases in 2022-23, we have noted elsewhere (paragraph 119) that these can experience delays.
64 Scottish Government, Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 – Interim reporting requirement (2023) at page 51.
65 We considered the case to be concluded when a plea was entered, when a verdict was returned or when a decision was made to take no further proceedings. We did not include any additional time taken for sentencing, as that is outwith the control of COPFS. It should be noted though, that sentence was deferred in many cases meaning that, from the victim’s perspective, they may not have considered the case to be ‘concluded’ until much more time had passed. In some cases which were discontinued, the initial decision to discontinue was not formalised until a later date. We used the date of the initial decision to calculate the case’s journey time. Had we used the date of the formal decision to discontinue, the journey time for those cases would have been much longer.
66 These were cases where the accused was reported to COPFS while in custody, the case was marked immediately, and the accused pled guilty at the first calling.
67 Police Scotland, COPFS, SCTS, Scottish Prison Service and Parole Board for Scotland, Standards of service for victims and witnesses 2023-24 (2023).
68 It is possible that in the cases where no letter was sent during our review period, a letter was sent at a later date. However, this would have meant the letter was sent months after the first calling.
69 COPFS, SCTS, Police Scotland and Victim Support Scotland, Working together for victims and witnesses (2021)
70 COPFS and Police Scotland, Joint protocol, paragraph 66.
71 Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service statement on prisoner escort services (31 August 2023).
72 This applies to any children usually residing with the victim and/or the accused, or in respect of whom the statutory child aggravator applies.
73 In four other cases, the accused had pled guilty but the sentence and consideration of an NHO remained outstanding.
74 We compared operational instructions, a manual on victims and witness, a manual on the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 and guidance issued to NICP staff.
75 Sections 271J to 271L of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
76 For summary case management pilot cases, this information does not appear in a letter until after the case management hearing.
77 Sections 271I, 271M and 271HB of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
78 Trial diets were fixed in a further four cases but did not proceed. In all four cases, a screen and a supporter had been applied for.
79 See, for example, Scottish Government, The Vision for Justice in Scotland Three Year Delivery Plan 2023/24 to 2025/26 (2023).
80 Victim Support Scotland advised us that they will accept referrals for court familiarisation visits from advocacy workers, VIA or any other organisation. Victims are also able to self-refer.
81 Dr Lesley Thomson QC, Review of victim care in the justice sector in Scotland (2017) at paragraph 4.11.
82 Although the need for this should reduce upon rollout of the Witness Gateway (see paragraph 435).
83 Some issues that contribute to ineffective communication have already been highlighted above, such as the poor take-up rate of calls to victims.
84 IPS, Thematic review of the investigation and prosecution of sexual crimes (2017), Recommendation 9.
85 IPS, Follow-up review of the investigation and prosecution of sexual crime (2020) from paragraph 104.
86 See IPS, Thematic review of the investigation and prosecution of sexual crimes (2017), Recommendation 8 and Follow-up review of the investigation and prosecution of sexual crime (2020) from paragraph 98.
87 COPFS, Written submission to the Justice Committee’s Inquiry into the role and purpose of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (16 October 2016).
88 IPS, Annual Report 2017-18.
89 We heard that some advocacy workers send information and enquiries to VIA mailboxes rather than general office mailboxes, so some delays are attributable to VIA rather than administrators.
90 Dr Lesley Thomson QC, Review of victim care in the justice sector in Scotland (2017) at paragraph 7.3.
91 The Victims Taskforce is co-chaired by the Lord Advocate and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and comprises various justice agencies, support organisations and academia. Its role is to coordinate and drive action to improve the experience of victims and witnesses.
92 Joint protocol between Police Scotland and COPFS – In partnership challenging domestic abuse (2023) at paragraph 49.
93 See paragraph 147 on the use of the child aggravation.
94 The purpose of the Scottish Child Interview Model is to ensure that the investigative interviewing of children is trauma-informed and delivers the best evidence through careful planning and interviewing techniques and a comprehensive training programme for interviewers. The aim is to increase the quality of JIIs to allow them to be used more often in criminal proceedings.
95 Scottish Government, Bairns' Hoose – Scottish Barnahus: vision, values and approach (2023).
96 Section 271B and section 271BZA of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995
97 COPFS, Complaints handling procedure annual report 2021-22 (December 2022).
98 COPFS, Executive Board Meeting Minutes – 4 October 2023.
99 COPFS, Victims’ Right to Review Annual Reports 2019-20 to 2022-23, available on the COPFS website. This data relates to both summary and solemn cases.
100 COPFS, Improving our service: Strategy 2023-2027 (2023).
101 Violence Against Women Partnerships are the local, multi-agency mechanism to deliver on Equally Safe, the national strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse. Every local authority area is expected to have a Violence Against Women Partnership.
102 On the accessibility and responsiveness of VIA, see from paragraph 392.
103 SCTS, The summary case management (SCM) pilot: Interim evaluation (2023) at paragraph 2.32.