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Seòmar agus comataidhean

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 26 December 2024
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Displaying 808 contributions

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Criminal Justice Committee

Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 29 March 2023

Katy Clark

It is just that you do not happen to have any at the moment.

Criminal Justice Committee

Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 29 March 2023

Katy Clark

Right—I understand that.

Another issue that is raised by the bill relates to children being detained in police custody—children being kept in cells. Have you considered that? Are there ever circumstances in which that is just a necessity? What is your view on that issue? Potentially, somebody who is arrested on a Friday could be held until the Monday. Does that happen? Is that something that you are aware of? Is there a different provision for those short-term situations?

Criminal Justice Committee

Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 29 March 2023

Katy Clark

Do you ever have children on remand? Have there been in the past?

Criminal Justice Committee

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018: Post-legislative Scrutiny

Meeting date: 8 March 2023

Katy Clark

I want to ask the witnesses about coercive control, which I raised with the previous panel. May we have a little information about your experience to date? How possible has it been to bring cases? What conviction rates are we seeing? If there are not many cases, it will be difficult to give us a lot of data, but the committee does not have much data. Can you say anything about how easy or difficult it is to secure prosecutions and convictions? The committee would be interested in any information in that regard. I do not know whether you can talk about case law or give examples.

Criminal Justice Committee

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018: Post-legislative Scrutiny

Meeting date: 8 March 2023

Katy Clark

So the existence of the new offences should not have made a significant difference to the numbers of people being remanded.

Criminal Justice Committee

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018: Post-legislative Scrutiny

Meeting date: 8 March 2023

Katy Clark

The next panel might be better placed to answer this question. I have been looking through the papers to see whether I can get the information that I am looking for. I am interested in the extent to which you have been able to get information on conviction rates in relation to coercive control, and on the difficulty in securing convictions. At the beginning of the evidence session, there was a lot of discussion about police interpretation and guidelines, and whether we have case law to evaluate how well the courts can decide such cases.

Maybe Claire Houghton is best placed to answer that. I know that you have done some research, Claire, but I do not know to what extent you looked at that and how many cases you had to consider.

Criminal Justice Committee

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018: Post-legislative Scrutiny

Meeting date: 8 March 2023

Katy Clark

That is helpful—thank you.

Criminal Justice Committee

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018: Post-legislative Scrutiny

Meeting date: 8 March 2023

Katy Clark

Has your marking of cases for appeal changed?

Criminal Justice Committee

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018: Post-legislative Scrutiny

Meeting date: 8 March 2023

Katy Clark

You cannot even go that far.

You will be aware that the committee is currently looking at new bail proposals. Has there been a change in practice as a result of the 2018 legislation? Can you outline whether it has had an impact on bail in relation to domestic abuse specifically? We are aware of the section 23 provisions, but has there been an increase in the use of remand in domestic abuse cases as a result of the various new offences being brought in?

Criminal Justice Committee

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018: Post-legislative Scrutiny

Meeting date: 8 March 2023

Katy Clark

Unless any of the other panel members wants to add anything, I am happy to leave it there, and to pick it up with the next panel. I do not think that we have the data.