The Political Environment: Understanding Victim Participation in Scottish Criminal Justice System
In Scots law, prior to the admission or finding of guilt, the person who makes a criminal allegation is preferably referred to as ‘Complainer’ rather than a ‘Victim’ as per the Scottish Court Service (strategic report), 2013. For the purpose of this article, the term ‘Victim’ has been used uniformly. Traditionally, victims were not given due importance in the justice administration. Taking concrete and substantial steps to help and understand victims’ psyche, providing them rights is still a relatively developing concept in Scotland. Even though the first victim (support) services in Scotland opened in 1981. By 1985 there was a rapid growth of local schemes, coming together as Victim Support Scotland (VSS), unfortunately, according to the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, 2011 only 2% crime victims, in reality, received direct advice and support from them.
It was not until 2000 that the Scottish Strategy for Victims (which was part of the first Scottish coalition’s (1999–2003) programme) decided to provide a ‘coherent framework’ policy. This policy was put in place to cater to three primary objectives that lagged in the criminal jurisprudence regarding the status of victim in the system and ensured to take in the loop both statutory and voluntary agencies by providing:
The provision of appropriate information to victims
Ensuring that emotional and practical support is available to victims; and
Securing greater participation for victims in the criminal justice process
One of the key innovations of the Scottish Strategy was the proposal to introduce a victim statement scheme that aimed to give ‘victims a voice in court’ and also during the parole process to ensure that their experiences are adequately recognised. This was a monumental moment for Victims in Criminal Justice System in Scotland as it gave them the opportunity, otherwise denied in the formal court process, of communicating with the offender as well as the court.
Victim Statement Scheme in Scotland: A pilot initiative
Under the current scheme, victims of certain serious crimes may be eligible to make a written statement that empowers them to come forward before the Court and explain to them in their own words how a crime has affected them physically, emotionally, and financially. The victim statement is given before the adjudicating authority (judge or sheriff) and is taken under consideration for deciding the sentencing of the accused. Professors of Aberdeen University conducted social research at the School of Law in 2007 evaluating the Pilot Victim Statement Scheme, and here are some of the interesting responses from that research. An interview was taken in three batches of victims with various questions to test their comprehension of the victim statement scheme, and the response rate was 45%.
18% of respondents who were all non-statement makers did not recall being told about the opportunity to make a victim statement.
The 88 statement makers in the sample were asked further questions regarding the scheme.
The most common reason for making a victim statement (by 30 of the 88 statement makers) was to express their feelings about the crime, followed by hoping to influence the outcome of the trial.
Concludingly, within the terms of the pilot victim statement scheme, it was possible to update a victim statement but not to withdraw it. However, 52% of statement-makers were unaware of this possibility, which highlights the lacunae in the successful implementation of the scheme. Similarly, 39% of victims were unaware that their statements could be further examined in the court, and 52% of victims felt they had not been kept well informed about the progress of their case. Hence, one of the intended purposes of the scheme failed as the victim ended up feeling alone and marginalised just as they were before being part of the scheme. The scheme was supposed to alter the scenario; however, it was not entirely successful in this.
By Prerna Deep