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

Background

Criminal Justice Modernisation

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the pace of adoption of digital processes and innovation in many spheres, including the justice system. Throughout this period, a number of changes were made to operational practices and procedures, including the use of digital technologies, to ensure the continued operation of a viable justice system. These technological solutions allowed justice agencies to meet the challenges of the pandemic whilst also providing the basis for the delivery of a more effective and efficient justice system.

As Scotland becomes a more digital nation, the nature of government, at a national and local level, is changing. Those using public services expect them to be responsive and tailored to their needs, efficient and of high quality.

The Scottish Government’s Vision for Justice , published in February 2022, and the associated Three Year Delivery Plan , published in November 2023, set out a transformative vision to deliver a just, safe resilient country. Delivering the Vision requires changes to the operation of Scotland’s justice services, ensuring that its processes and laws meet the needs of people now and in the future.

The criminal justice modernisation provisions form a key part of a programme of work that takes forward the Scottish Government’s commitment to modernise justice processes through greater use of digital processes.

The Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 (“the 2022 Act”) built on previous legislation introduced in response to the pandemic. It continued a range of temporary justice provisions which have proven crucial to maintaining and enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the justice system and helped to facilitate the desired move to a more digitalised justice sector.

One of the main objectives of this part of the Bill is to make some of these provisions permanent, to deliver significant longer term benefits and provide a basis for the future resilience, effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice sector. The Bill also introduces two new provisions to further support the modernisation of Scotland’s justice processes and procedures.

Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review Model

Domestic Homicide Reviews were first established in the United States in the early to mid-1990s and have since been implemented in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many other jurisdictions. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislative provision has been available for Domestic Homicide Reviews since 2004 but were only established in England in 2011. Scotland is currently the only part of the UK that does not have a multi-agency Domestic Homicide Review Model.

There is no universal definition for what constitutes a ‘domestic homicide’. Consequentially, there is significant variation across different jurisdictions on what deaths are within scope but as a minimum, all include intimate partner homicide where there has been or it is suspected that there has been, abuse. However, the majority of jurisdictions have a broader scope and include the deaths of children, domestic suicides, wider family members, bystanders and some review models include near death events.

In December 2022, the Scottish Government established a multi-agency Taskforce to provide national leadership and drive forward change and improvement through the development and implementation of a national, multi-agency review model that is cognisant of existing processes and reflective of the operating context within Scotland. The taskforce includes senior representatives from across justice, health, local government, academia and the third sector. A model development subgroup was established in 2023 to develop the detail of the model. The taskforce, subgroup and its task and finish groups, have been key in developing the detail of the Bill provisions.