Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill: Fairer Scotland Duty summary

Summary of aims and expected outcomes of strategy, proposal, programme or policy

The Criminal Justice Modernisation And Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill is a dual purpose Bill and covers provisions that relate to criminal justice modernisation and domestic homicide and suicide reviews, comprising of:

• Part 1 – Criminal Justice Modernisation
• Part 2 – Domestic Homicide and Suicide Reviews

Both parts of the Bill support one of the Scottish Government’s priorities, namely the delivery of effective and sustainable public services. The first part of the Bill aims to do this by providing a basis for the ongoing and future resilience, effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice sector through modernisation, in particular through greater use of digital processes.

The second part of the Bill creates a statutory framework for Scotland’s national multi-agency domestic homicide and suicide review model. The model aims to learn lessons where a person has died due to abuse. The learning gained will facilitate change and improvements to be delivered so that individuals and communities are better supported by public services and deaths can be prevented.

The distinct nature of the two parts of the Bill also has different implications in relation to the Fairer Scotland Duty and the decision of whether or not to undertake an impact assessment, such that:

• Part 1 – Criminal Justice Modernisation does not require a Fairer Scotland Duty Impact Assessment
• Part 2 – Domestic Homicide and Suicide Reviews requires a Fairer Scotland Duty Impact Assessment

The rationale for not undertaking an impact assessment for the first part of the Bill is based on the fact that there is no intention for the criminal justice modernisation provisions in the Bill to have a different effect on individuals most affected by socio-economic disadvantage and inequalities of outcome. It has been assessed that these provisions do not need to be developed in a way to further improve or mitigate the outcomes expected from in regards to these matters.

The provisions in the second part of the Bill relate to the development of a Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review model for Scotland. Domestic homicide and suicide reviews are multi-agency process that allows lessons to be learned following a homicide or suicide where abuse is suspected. The aim of review is to work with relevant agencies, both statutory and voluntary, where a victim, or victim and perpetrator, have come into contact with services, to learn from the circumstances of domestic abuse related deaths. This is to assist agencies to better identify and respond effectively to the risks associated with abuse, to prevent further deaths, and to ensure that the victim and their family is kept at the centre. The broad nature of this work resulted in the decision to undertake a Fairer Scotland Duty impact assessment, the findings of which are summarised below.