Victims’ rights at heart of justice system with proposed changes, says minister

Changes to a notification scheme will put “victims’ rights at the heart of the justice system”, a Government minister has pledged.

Victims minister Siobhian Brown was speaking as the Scottish Government unveiled plans to reform the victim notification scheme (VNS).

Victims of crime currently have to sign up to different schemes, depending on the length of jail sentence an offender was given.

But the Government proposes all victims will register for the same scheme, and they will all have the same rights and access to information, regardless of how long a criminal spends in jail.

The changes, which have to be approved by the Scottish Parliament, would also give all victims the right to make representations when an offender is being considered for release on licence – and on the conditions they would like to see included.

As it stands, only victims where an offender is sentenced to four years or more in custody have these rights.

The changes, along with plans to create a specialist victim contact team to provide more personalised support to those who have suffered because of crime, are included in the Government’s Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill.

Speaking about the changes, Brown said: “These reforms will put victims’ rights at the heart of the justice system.

“Victims of crime will be able to sign up to one simplified notification scheme that allows them to receive information about the offenders and, if they wish, to have a say in decisions being made about the offenders, including their release.

“These changes recognise that a victim’s rights should not hinge on the length of sentence that the perpetrator is serving.

“One system will be easier for victims to navigate and this change will add to a raft of proposed reforms to the VNS, including the creation of a new victim contact team.

“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.”

Kate Wallace, chief executive of Victim Support Scotland, welcomed plans to widen the victim notification scheme, but added: “There are many more improvements that are urgently needed, including the move to an opt-out model to boost uptake of the scheme.”

She said this change “would ensure that victims, who are currently asked to opt-in to being notified at a hugely traumatic time in their lives, have the opportunity to make a more informed decision about whether they want to be signed up to the VNS”.

Wallace continued: “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.”