Victim notification scheme for victims of offenders with a mental disorder

What next?

If you choose to join the scheme, please fill in the form sent to you and send it to the Victim Notification Scheme Administration Team in the Scottish Government. The address is given on the form and is also on page 9 of this booklet. If you need help to decide whether to join the Victim Notification Scheme or to fill in the form you can contact Victim Support Scotland, a national charity that helps victims of crime. You can find their contact details on page 9 of this booklet.

Once the Team receives your application form they will write to you to tell you the information you may be eligible to receive and representations you may have a right to make under the scheme. You will receive a unique Victim Notification Scheme reference number by post which confirms your registration on the scheme.

You must quote the reference number given to you on all further correspondence for security reasons. If you do not quote this reference number, we may not be able to answer your question.

If you choose not to opt into the scheme, you will not receive any further letters or forms and you will not receive any information about the offender.

We understand that you may not feel that you wish to join the scheme immediately. You can change your mind at a later date by sending the completed application forms to the Victim Notification Scheme Administration Team. We would advise that you keep the application forms you have received in a safe place in case you later decide to register for information.

Please note that if we receive your application to join the scheme after the offender’s compulsion order and restriction order is no longer in place, you may not be eligible to register. If you have joined the victim notification scheme and later decide you do not want to receive any more information about the offender, you can withdraw from it at any time. You will find a withdrawal form sent to you along with this booklet.

If you have joined the victim notification scheme and later change your contact details, please use the form included with this booklet to let us know. If we do not have the most up to date contact details for you, we cannot pass on the information you have registered to receive.

Please give as much information as possible about how you wish to be contacted. This will make it easier for the Victim Notification Scheme Administration Team to get in touch with you quickly. This information will be maintained in the strictest confidence by them.