Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill: equality impact assessment

Executive summary

One of the aims of this Bill is to make permanent those of the temporary justice measures in the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022, which can deliver significant longer term benefits and provide a basis for the future resilience, effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice sector. The Bill also includes provisions which support the modernisation of our justice processes and procedures and provisions for Domestic Homicide and Suicide Reviews.

The purpose of Domestic Homicide and Suicide Reviews is to identify what lessons can be learned and evidently applied following a death where abuse is suspected in order to help prevent future domestic abuse and domestic abuse related deaths. They are not about apportioning blame and/or guilt. They are fundamentally about learning in order to identify areas for change and improvement in order to help prevent further deaths and give a voice to those who have died.

The Scottish Government is satisfied that all of the measures contained in the Bill are appropriate and proportionate.