New proposals to expand victim notification scheme

More victims could be given access to information about the person who committed a crime against them and have a say on decisions about their release under new government plans.

Currently people can register with the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS) if the offender in their case has been sentenced to 18 months or more in prison, or with the Victim Information Scheme if the sentence was less than 18 months.

New proposals would see all victims having access to the same information regardless of the length of the offender's sentence.

The Scottish government said the reforms put victims rights at the "heart of the justice system".

The plans would also give all victims the right to make representations where an offender is being considered for release on licence – and on the licence conditions they would like to see imposed.

At the moment this entitlement only applies where an offender was sentenced to four years or more in custody.

Victims Minister Siobhian Brown said: "These changes recognise that a victim's rights should not hinge on the length of sentence that the perpetrator is serving.

"We want victims to know their rights to receive information and to be supported to make informed choices on whether they wish to do so. We will continue to work closely with victims' representatives as we take forward these reforms."

The range of information available through the VNS for victims of offenders in the forensic mental health system who are subject to a compulsion order and restriction order would also be improved.

The latest plans are being introduced as proposed amendments to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, the next stage of which begins in the Scottish Parliament next week.

The bill also proposes a pilot scheme for juryless rape trials and abolishing the "not proven" verdict.

The reform proposals, which will be voted on by MSPs, come amid a scheme which to release a number of criminals from jail early to help ease the prison population.

Victim Support Scotland, said they welcome the move but "many more improvements are urgently needed".

Chief executive Kate Wallace said: "It has been nearly two years now since improvements to the VNS were recommended to the Scottish government through an independent review in May 2023.

"While early release schemes have passed swiftly through Holyrood in the last year, improvements to the VNS have languished while hundreds of prisoners were released early - with only 2% of their victims notified in last summer's emergency early release scheme."