Young People in Scotland Survey 2021: attitudes to violence against women and girls

Annex B: Legislative developments

Equally Safe has been credited with the ambition behind the 'world's gold standard' domestic abuse offence, which was introduced through legislation in 2018. More than half of the rise in convictions for non-sexual crimes of violence in 2019-20, were accounted for by new offences under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. The Scottish Government provided an additional £825,000 to Police Scotland so they could introduce a programme of change for their officers and they have trained some 14,000 officers and frontline staff to respond to and investigate the new domestic abuse offence. This extensive training programme sought to continually improve the response to domestic abuse; tackle the myths of coercive and controlling behaviours; and embed a workplace culture where there is no tolerance for domestic abuse. The new Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 will build on this momentum providing police and courts with powers to further protect people at risk of domestic abuse and ensure a person's home is a place of safety.

The Scottish Government Programme for Government includes several positive and ambitious commitments relevant to the VAWG agenda including:

• enshrining the right to lifelong anonymity for complainers of sexual crimes in Scots law
• giving serious consideration to the recommendations from Lady Dorrian's review of the handling of sexual offences cases
• introduction of a new framework, specific to the justice system, to give staff the knowledge and skills they need to understand and adopt a trauma-informed approach
• ensuring that the Caledonian System is available nationwide
• developing a model for Scotland to tackle prostitution, and consider how aspects of international approaches to challenge men's demand for prostitution would best be applied in Scotland
• developing a new funding regime for victim support organisations
• launching a public consultation on the three verdict system and whether the not-proven verdict should be abolished and consider reform of the corroboration rule
• and further funding to tackle gender-based violence and support services

In addition, on 21 April 2022 the Scottish Government published its response to the report of the Independent Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland, accepting the recommendations as pivotal in challenging misogyny and confirming development of draft legislative provisions for public consultation.

In March 2023, the Scottish Government published its consultation seeking views on draft legislative provisions that implement recommendations for criminal law reform contained in the report of the Working Group on Misogyny chaired by Baroness Kennedy. In addition, the Scottish Government has introduced the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform Bill to the Scottish Parliament which provides for an automatic right to state-funded independent legal representation for complainers of sexual offences (in certain circumstances).

Work has moved forward on the Programme for Government Commitment to "develop a model for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men's demand for prostitution." This is now being progressed through the development of a Framework for Scotland which will also support those with experience of prostitution. Working with an expert group of stakeholders, in December 2022 the Scottish Government published the six fundamental principles which will ensure that equality, human rights and safety are at its heart.