Parole reforms could soon form part of the Scottish Government’s major justice overhaul as a new victims charter proposal was welcomed by the cabinet minister.
Changes to the parole system were late amendments to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill before it went before the justice committee on Wednesday.
But opposition MSPs have raised concerns about how well the bill has been scrutinised, as parole had not been included until last week.
Arguments put forward by Conservative MSP Jamie Greene on the formation of a victims charter were received well by justice secretary Angela Constance.
Mr Greene, whose amendments are supported by Dundee survivor Linda McDonald, said: “One of the things that became quite fundamental to this amendment was many victims expressing a lack of understanding of how the justice system works in practice.
“Many victims lack an understanding of what their rights are and many are unhappy with the form and method of communication that they receive.”
Ms Constance agreed to work on the amendment to underwrite a charter for victims into the process at the next stage of the bill.
‘It can be out of the blue and traumatic’
Issues surrounding the need for better communication was a major focus of the session.
Mr Greene told how it is currently up to the victim to find their own support organisations when they are first notified of parole proceedings.
He said: “It can come out of the blue to the victim when a letter pops through the letter box and it can also be traumatic.
“In fact, the chair of the parole board himself in a recent interview with The Courier newspaper agreed with that point.
“This places the onus on the organisations which are part of the justice system to contact victims and make that proactive offer.”
Again, it was agreed this would be looked at in the next stage of the bill.
The ability of all victims to give oral statements to parole hearings was also put forward my Mr Greene.
He said: “Victims should be able to give oral representation and not just written representation.
“It’s about choice and flexibility.
“They should be given the opportunity to do so and it should not be restricted.”
Victims Minister Siobhain Brown said she is sympathetic to the issue but could not support it at this stage until further resource and costing work had been carried out.
Mr Greene remains hopeful it will be reconsidered in the following stage.
Concern over scrutiny of parole board
Parole reforms were only very recently added to the bill after the Scottish Government failed to include them in earlier stages.
Earlier this year, The Courier as part of A Voice for Victims campaign, stated that parole reform needed to form part of the bill and spoke with Mr Greene about our work.
On Wednesday, Labour MSP Pauline McNeill revealed that the parole board had not yet been asked by the government for representations.
She said: “The scrutiny of this bill gives me cause for concern.
“We’ve not asked the parole board for a view on any of this and I think that’s fundamental to my view on how I might vote on it.
“I would like to hear the other side of the argument.
“I really feel strongly that we need to hear from the parole board on all of these things.”
Ms McNeil asked that work be carried out in between this stage of the bill and the next stage to get the parole board’s stand on many issues.
Next week, more major amendments on parole reform, including issues surrounding transparency, will go before the committee for debate.
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