£1.5m to combat lockdown abuse
Three weeks ago, if you’d told me we would now be living in a Scotland where every member of the public would have to account for their movements to the police, I’d have been appalled. Today, I accept it without question.
The coronavirus pandemic has completely altered the rules we play by. Nowadays it’s surprisingly easy to find yourself cheering on our boys and girls in blue as they upend a barbeque in Essex or shout at a bloke on Perth high street for violation of quarantine restrictions. Such is the fear that now snakes through our land.
Policing by consent in Scotland is one of the principles of our free society. Police follow rules determined by democratically elected parliamentarians and that hasn’t changed. The powers of lockdown are clearly limited to the duration of this emergency and are ones that I know the police are keenly looking forward to handing back.
As a liberal it’s hard for me to accept that, for the safety and protection of the most vulnerable in our society, we must surrender our freedom for the time being, but I’ve made my peace with it. But only on the measures introduced so far.
This week, in a one-day sitting, MSPS will debate and pass the Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill. It dovetails into the UK legislation passed into law last week and covers how Scotland’s system of justice will operate during lockdown. To be fair to the Government they have sought to build consensus around the Bill from the outset and with my party they will find support for every provision in the draft legislation, save one: their plans to abolish trial by jury for the duration of the emergency. Unlike the powers we’ve handed our police in the UK, it is only in Scotland that there are plans to have trials heard by a judge alone that would normally have been heard by a jury.
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Burnett has stated they must pause jury trials south of the Border “for a short time to enable appropriate precautions to be put in place”. I don’t see why we should do things differently. On Wednesday, I’ll move an amendment in Parliament that scraps the Government’s plan to end jury trials and instead delay cases until there are measures
Domestic violence charities are to receive a £1.5 million boost to help women at risk of abuse during the coronavirus lockdown as fears grow of hidden violence.
The Scottish Government is awarding £1.35m to Scottish Women’s Aid while Rape Crisis Scotland will receive £226,309, to step up the support they can offer to women sufferingfromdomesticabuse over the next six months.
The financial boost revealed by Nicola Sturgeon came as the charities were due to mark the first anniversary of the passing of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill today, and as the Lord Advocate confirmed that domestic abuse cases will continue to be prosecuted vigorously during the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the First Minister added that Police Scotland could also be pro-active during the period of lockdown, when vulnerable women are at heightened risk of assault.
Already a man has been charged with killing his wife in South Wales since the lockdown, a former soldier has been charged with killing his nurse wife in South Yorkshire and a murder inquiry is ongoing after two adults and two children were found dead at a house in Sussex. The United Nations has also raised concerns about the impact of lockdown on victims of domestic violence after reports of increased assaults in China.
Ms Sturgeon said: “There is a real risk that women and children already subject to domestic abuse will feel even more isolated and vulnerable during this crisis, so this funding will ensure they have access to
in place so they can proceed safely.
Only once before in modern UK history have we removed trial by Jury. In 1973 the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act created the socalled ‘Diplock’ courts, where those accused of terrorism offences in the Troubles could be tried by a judge only. The reason was that the risk to jurors of reprisal was acute. To protect jurors in the virus emergency, we only need to find a way to have them meet in a venue big enough to allow social distancing or use video conferencing.
Jury trials have been part of justice in Scotland since the reign of King Alexander II in 1230 and they matter. They matter because the burden should rest on the prosecution to take a group of everyday support services. People who are suffering domestic abuse do not have to wait to seek help, that help is available now and they should not hesitate to come forward and get it.”
Asked if she believed that Police Scotland could be proactive, she said: “Yes, I think there is a need to keep a very close eye on this. It’s not for me to tell the police on an operational basis what to do, they have said they are conscious of it and will be vigilant.”
Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, said she was delighted with the new financial support. “Our services are in the midst of a radical redesign and SWA is keenly aware that our systems are in an unprecedented period of change and challenge,” she said. “By far the largest chunk of this money will go directly to the 36 services around Scotland that continue, every single one of them, to stay open and provide support and advocacy for children and women experiencing domestic abuse.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Samantha Mccluskey, of Police Scotland’s Specialist Crime Division, said tackling domestic abuse remained a priority “despite the unprecedented and dynamic set of circumstances the country is faced with”.
‘Jury trials matter as much in Scotland as they do in England’
people through the evidence, through the details of the law and persuade them of guilt.
A recent report by the Ministry of Justice demonstrated that juries are fair, efficient and effective. They convict almost two-thirds of those they try, do not exhibit racial bias and only fail to reach verdicts in less than one per cent of cases.
For almost 800 years people in Scotland who are victims or witnesses have been able to give their evidence to a jury, and the accused have known that their peers are judging them. Why should we deny that right to defendants in Scotland when it is being protected for defendants in England?
● Alex Cole-hamilton is the Lib Dem MSP for Edinburgh Western