Parole reforms must be included in the new victims bill currently progressing through parliament.
At Holyrood, MSPs are studying legal changes to help prevent re-traumatisation within our justice system.
As it stands, parole is not a part of the discussion and that needs to change.
The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill is dealing with how people affected by crime are treated within our court system.
This week, the survivor of Angus rapist Logan Doig met with the First Minister, John Swinney, and Justice Secretary, Angela Constance, to outline their concerns about the parole process.
Fife’s Hannah McLaughlan alongside fellow activist and survivor Ellie Wilson want to see victims rights increased with Ellie saying she believes the rights of her rapist are being prioritised over hers in the process.
Afterwards, the First Minister told The Courier he had agreed to look at the fears they had raised.
Making amendments to the victims bill seems like the most reasonable way of implementing these changes quickly and effectively.
Victims are speaking out for reforms
It’s not just Hannah and Ellie who are asking for change.
The Courier’s A Voice for Victims campaign has spoken with numerous people who have all been terribly affected by the parole process in its current form.
Linda McDonald, who survived an attack by Dundee murderer Robbie McIntosh, has been highly critical of the system.
Late last year, she travelled to Perth for a parole hearing before it was cancelled at the eleventh hour.
The family of Steven Donaldson went through two case deferrals before Angus killer Tasmin Glass was released last year having served just half her sentence.
The aunt of Barry Dixon, a Perth man stabbed to death, has told of her pain on fighting to keep his killer Robbie Smullen in prison.
There are more.
Missed opportunity would be fourth injustice
Victims and survivors having to make pleas to keep rapists and killers in jail for the time they were sentenced to is an injustice.
The fact that the decisions to release them are often made behind closed doors is a second injustice.
That victims are often left in the dark about the process overall is a third.
Fundamental changes need to me made to the parole process and the victims bill is the clearest way of achieving that.
Today, The Courier is reporting that Conservative justice spokesperson Liam Kerr has written to John Swinney asking about amendments to the bill to include parole.
It comes after a question the First Minister answered last year in relation to Tasmin Glass’ hearing when he said changes could be looked at.
This needs to happen as a matter of urgency.
MSPs have until a date in March to make these amendments.
If the opportunity is missed, it is the victims who will suffer.
They do not need to be put through that fourth injustice.
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