The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee is seeking views on the general principles of the Criminal Cases (Punishment and Review) (Scotland) Bill. A copy of the Bill together with the accompanying Policy Memorandum and Explanatory Notes can be found at:
Criminal Cases (Punishment and Review) (Scotland) Bill
The Bill was introduced in the Parliament on 30 November 2011 and the Justice Committee has been designated as the lead committee for Stage 1 of the Bill.
Aims of the Bill
The Bill deals with two distinct matters.
Part 1 amends the rules about the punishment part of non-mandatory life sentences to address an issue arising from the March 2011 Appeal Court judgement in the case Petch and Foye v Her Majesty’s Advocate.
Part 2 amends the rules relating to the disclosure of information obtained by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) in circumstances where an appeal against conviction has been abandoned or has otherwise fallen following a Commission referral to the appeal court. In doing so, the Bill provides a framework for the Commission to use when considering whether it is appropriate to disclose information that it holds relating to a particular case. The Policy Memorandum explains that this change to the Commission’s rules is being done in response to the wide ranging public interest in the case of Mr Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, who was convicted in 2001 of the murder of 270 people in the Lockerbie Bombing.
Further details on both Parts of the Bill are contained in the Policy Memorandum and Explanatory Notes.
Justice Committee consideration
The Justice Committee hopes to consider written submissions and to take oral evidence during January and February 2012 before reporting on the Bill’s general principles by mid-March 2012.
In preparation for this, the Committee invites all interested individuals and organisations to submit written evidence on the Bill and its likely impact. In particular, the Committee would welcome your views on the particular issues below:
Part 1 – Punishment part of non-mandatory life sentences
• Does the Bill provide sufficient clarity in determining the punishment part in discretionary life sentences and orders for lifelong restriction?
Part 2 – disclosure of information obtained by SCCRC
• Is the framework provided in the Bill appropriate for the purpose of the SCCRC determining whether it is appropriate to disclose information?
• Will the requirement for the SCCRC to consider relevant reserved statute such as the data Protection Act 1998 and the Official Secrets Acts impact on the disclosure of information?
Other issues
• Are there any other issues that you would like to draw to the attention of the Committee?
All submissions should be provided by no later than midday on Wednesday 1 February 2012. If you wish to provide oral evidence, it would be helpful if you could provide your submission by no later than midday on Wednesday 25 January 2012, so as to enable the Committee to consider your written evidence.
How to submit written evidence
Before making a submission, please read the Parliament’s policy on treatment of written evidence by subject and mandatory committees.
Written submissions should normally be limited to around 4 sides of A4 but, if they need to be much longer than this, they should be accompanied by a short summary of the main points. Submissions should be set out in numbered paragraphs. Where the submission refers to existing published material, it is preferable to provide hyperlinks or full citations (rather than extensive extracts). The Committee welcomes written evidence in English, Gaelic or any other language.
If possible, written submissions should be submitted electronically (preferably in word processing format i.e. Microsoft Word or Apple Pages) by email to:
[email protected]
Hard copy written submissions should be sent to:
Justice Committee
Room TG.01
Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
Contact
Any queries about written submissions should be addressed in the first instance to the Justice Committee clerking team at the above email address or (0131) 348 5047.