Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what sanctions exist for misleading the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, and how such matters are investigated.
The sanctions that may be applied where a person is found to have misled the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) and the means by which allegations that a person may have done so would be investigated would depend on the facts and circumstances of the particular case.
The purpose of the SCCRC is to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice. Where a person seeks to deliberately mislead the SCCRC when carrying out an investigation into an alleged miscarriage of justice, they may potentially be committing the offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice or defeat the ends of justice.
The SCCRC have a power at section 194H of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to request precognition under oath. Where a person knowingly gives false information under oath, they may be liable to be prosecuted for perjury.
As common law offences, the maximum penalty for offences of perjury, attempting to defeat the ends of justice or pervert the course of justice is up to life imprisonment, limited only by the sentencing power of the court in which the offender is sentenced.
Where the SCCRC believe that a person may have committed a criminal offence, it is a matter for the SCCRC to consider what action to take and this could include reporting this to the police for investigation.