News
Improving criminal justice experience for sexual crime victims
Scotland’s
prosecution service is joining with Rape Crisis Scotland to
obtain feedback
from victims of sexual crime about their experience of the justice system.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS).
Under the new agreement RCS will share anonymous feedback on victims’ experiences of the criminal justice system and their views on the service provided by COPFS.
This information, only provided with the victim’s consent, will be used to identify ways COPFS can improve the service provided to victims of sexual crime.
The feedback will cover, among other things, the way the process was explained, how information was shared and where relevant the person’s experience in court. Victims will also be asked if anything could have been done better by COPFS.
News release: Rape Crisis Scotland calls for radical reform of legal responses to rape
Rape Crisis Scotland call for radical reform as Inspectorate
of Prosecution release report into the prosecution of sexual crime
Rape Crisis Scotland have today condemned the ‘unacceptable’ findings of a review into the Investigation and Prosecution of Sexual Crimes released by the Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland. Survivors’ voices contained within the report recount the trauma, degradation and humiliation of the court system, with one survivor describing the process as ‘worse than being raped’. Rape Crisis say that the report must act as an urgent wake up call, highlighting the critical need for improvement in legal responses to rape in Scotland.
“I was not prepared.... it was the most degrading and terrifying thing.”
“In our court system, you are totally humiliated. It was the most degrading experience I have been through”.
“Court was absolutely horrendous, it was worse than being raped”.
“Although there was a guilty verdict, I would never go through it again.”
In addition to the overall dissatisfaction from rape complainers highlighted in the quotes above and damning feedback, the report details specific areas of concern. These include:
· Complainers’ cases being allocated to floating trial diets resulting in significant uncertainty;
· Considerable and long delays in the progression of cases, in particular in pre-petition cases;
· Significant and concerning gaps in communication; in one case it took 15 months from the police report for the Crown to contact the complainer;
· Poor standards of communication from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in pre-petition cases with almost half of cases being below the standard expected;
· Significant proportions (12%) of sexual offence complainers withdrawing from the process.
RSSLatest posts
- Remembering Tansy Main
- Sex crimes in Scotland reach second-highest level in 54 years
- RCS calls for the Scottish Government and MSPs to work together to introduce key legislation for survivors of sexual crime
- Changes announced by the Sottish Government to the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill
- Landmark judgment on corroboration in sexual offence cases
