Victim Notification Scheme (VNS): independent review

Section 5: Methodology

Initial desktop research on existing published guidance, available management data and looking at a number of victim notification schemes in other countries, was followed by interviews with as broad a range of stakeholders as possible; victims who came forward through victim support organisations and other avenues, victim support organisations themselves, the Victims Organisations' Collaborative Forum Scotland (VOCFS), the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland and service delivery organisations, where we requested to speak to both a person of sufficient seniority and a practitioner. Beyond the delivery organisations, we spoke to the Scottish Government Secure Care Team, REDRESS (Abuse in Care), SACRO (Care and resettlement of offenders), the Risk Management Authority (Risk assessment and risk management of violent and sexual offenders), Community Justice Scotland and the Scottish Government Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill Team. We consulted Scottish Government officials responsible for multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA Scotland).

In order to gain a wider perspective of other models, we contacted representatives of victim notification schemes which operate abroad. We did not conduct a formal research survey, but simply asked for:

• Examples of victim notification schemes in other countries, particularly with similar adversarial judicial systems
• Learning what works well and what does not
• How the needs of victims are catered for in the processes. How victim-centred are they?

In addition to some direct contacts and desk-based research, we contacted Victim Support Europe, who passed on our request to EuroPris - the European Organisation of Prison and Correctional Services and CEP, the Confederation of European Probation. We received a good response, discussed later in the report and outlined in the Supplement.

Once we had gathered evidence from all the sources we had intended, we hosted a workshop in Edinburgh in October 2022 (with representatives from all the key stakeholders). We also attended Victims Taskforce meetings, which bring together senior decision-makers from justice agencies, the legal profession, academia and the voluntary sector, including direct representation of victims.

October 2022 Workshop