Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 explained

Short Title:	Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014
Type:	Act
Parliament:	Scottish Parliament
Long Title:	An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make provision for certain rights and support for victims and witnesses, including provision for implementing Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and the Council; and to make provision for the establishment of a committee of the Mental Welfare Commission with functions relating to persons who were placed in institutional care as children.
Year:	2014
Citation:	2014 asp 1
Introduced By:	Kenny MacAskill MSP^[1]
Royal Assent:	17 January 2014
Status:	Current
Original Text:	http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2014/1/contents/enacted
Legislation History:	http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/59133.aspx
Revised Text:	http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2014/1/contents
Eu Directives:	Directive 2012/29/EU

The Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which passed through the legislative body in 2013 and received Royal Assent on 17 January 2014. It brought into law a number of changes to modify the experience victims and witnesses have within Scotland's justice system.

This Act made provisions for:

• creating a duty for justice organisations to set clear standards of service for victims and witnesses
• giving victims and witnesses new rights to certain information about their case^[2]
• improving support for vulnerable witnesses in court – for example, changing the definition of 'child witness' to include all those under 18 (instead of under 16), and creating a presumption that certain categories of victim are vulnerable, and giving such victims the right to utilise certain special measures when giving evidence
• introducing a victim surcharge so that offenders contribute to the cost of supporting victims
• introducing restitution orders, allowing the court to require that offenders who assault police officers pay to support the specialist non-NHS services which assist in the recovery of such individuals
• allowing victims to make oral representations about the release of life sentence prisoners.

History

The Bill creating the Act was introduced to Parliament on 13 February 2013 by Kenny MacAskill MSP and received Royal Assent on 17 January 2014, creating the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014.^[3] Parts of the Act came into force the following day, 18 January 2014, with the remainder being introduced gradually between August 2014 and September 2015, although the Act does not yet apply to cases in Justice of the Peace courts.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Bill. Parliament.scot. The Scottish Parliament. 13 October 2016.
2. Web site: The Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014. Police Scotland. The Police Service of Scotland. 13 October 2016.
3. Web site: Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014. Legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. 6 September 2016.
4. Web site: New provisions of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act. Scottish Courts and Tribunals. The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. 13 October 2016. 2 September 2015.