News

Changes announced by the Sottish Government to the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill

The Scottish Government have today announced significant changes to the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill which is currently going through the Scottish Parliament.

The most significant of these changes is dropping the judge-led pilot, where rape trials were to be heard in front of a single judge, rather than a jury. This pilot was recommended in Lady Dorrian’s review of the management of sexual offence cases.

The Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill presents the biggest chance to improve how sexual offences are handled in Scotland for over a century. Change is urgently needed, and we’re hopeful that this Bill will help to bring about real change for survivors.

We’re disappointed that a pilot of judge-led trials, a significant part of the bill, has been dropped.

Landmark judgment on corroboration in sexual offence cases

A judgement from nine senior judges has been issued today which transforms the approach to corroboration in sexual offence cases in Scotland.  This follows on from a previous Lord Advocate’s reference last October, which resulted in clarification that:

• Corroboration must still be used to prove the case against the accused. This means that corroboration will be needed to prove that firstly, the crime was committed and secondly, that the person accused in the case is the person who committed it. There is now no requirement for every separate part of a crime to be proven by corroborated evidence.
• Distress, which is observed by a third party, can corroborate a complainer’s account that they have been raped. Penetration does not need to be corroborated separately.
• A statement which is made by a complainer after the relevant incident is normally hearsay and cannot be used as proof of fact. An exception to this is where that statement is made de recenti, when the complainer is in a distressed state. Both the statement and the distress, in combination, can be used as proof of fact and as corroboration. They constitute real evidence, when spoken to by another witness (a third party).

New figures show a significant rise in number of reported rapes in Scotland

New figures from Police Scotland show a nearly 20% rise in reported rape cases in recent months.

Behind every number is a survivor who has made the decision, which can be a very difficult one, to report what happened to them to the police. It’s essential that every survivor who does report sexual crime is supported though the process.

We’re intervening in a Supreme Court case

This week, we are at the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in London to intervene in a case which challenges the current restrictions in place in Scotland on what kinds of evidence can be brought up by the defence in sexual offence trials.

This case really matters. Often one of the biggest fears survivors raise with us about going to court is the fear of their sexual history or other aspects of their past being brought up in court.