Audrey Nicoll

The Scottish government announced the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill in September.

The bill would introduce statutory ‘lessons learned’ reviews after deaths related to abusive behaviour within relationships, in an attempt to try to stop similar incidents happening in future. An oversight committee and case review panels would be put in place to manage the reviews.

The first part of the bill covers provisions in relation to criminal cases, some of which have been in place on a temporary basis as part of the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022.

The bill would make the following changes permanent:

• using electronic signatures on court documents;
• sending court documents electronically;
• attending criminal court hearings virtually;
• increasing fixed penalty limits that may be offered by a procurator fiscal (‘fiscal fines’) as an alternative to prosecution through the courts; and
• a national jurisdiction for first callings from custody, allowing the initial stage of some criminal cases to be taken in any sheriff court in Scotland, regardless of where an offence took place.

Other changes proposed in the bill include treating pictures of physical evidence in the same way as the original physical evidence in criminal cases and establishing a process for electronic copies of documents to be trusted.

Committee convener Audrey Nicoll MSP said: “This bill proposes modernising matters related to criminal cases and to make permanent a number of changes which have been in place temporarily. We want to hear views on whether the changes proposed are a positive step or not.

“Our committee recognises the devastating impact of domestic abuse and is keen to hear views on the bill’s proposal to create a new model for reviewing deaths attributed to abusive behaviour within relationships. We want to know if the lessons learned reviews are the best approach in attempting to reduce incidents of this nature.

“We look forward to hearing your views.”

The call for views will be open until 10 January 2025.