Question reference: S6W-24821
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 25 January 2024
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Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 February 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, for what reason it decided to include provisions that reportedly allow for murder to be prosecuted in the proposed specialist Sexual Offences Court if the crime had a sexual element involved.
Answer
The Sexual Offences Court will be of equivalent status to the High Court when sitting as a court of first instance. Its processes and procedures will be the same as the High Court unless specifically provided for otherwise by the Bill, or subsequent secondary legislation or court rules. Importantly, judges sitting in the Court will have the same sentencing powers.
The proposed jurisdiction of the Sexual Offences Court includes murder only where it is libeled alongside a sexual offence listed in Schedule 3 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill . The Crown may prosecute cases involving serious sexual offending where the accused is alleged to have killed one of their victims. Given the experiences of the surviving complainers, the nature of their evidence, and the benefits the Sexual Offences Court will bring, the objective is to ensure there is the opportunity for those cases to be heard in the Sexual Offences Court.
It should also be noted, these cases can still be prosecuted in the High Court, the Bill gives prosecutors this additional option to indict these cases to the Sexual Offences Court should they consider it appropriate to do so.