A new review is to examine how effectively the prosecution service in Scotland is providing victims of domestic abuse with basic information about their cases.
In 2024 His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland published an inspection report detailing how well the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) manages and prosecutes cases involving domestic abuse at sheriff summary level.
Inspectors had found that in too many cases, not enough was being done to communicate with victims in the justice process.
They recommended COPFS do more to engage with and support individual victims when preparing and prosecuting domestic abuse cases.
HM Chief Inspector of Prosecution in Scotland, Deborah O’Brien Demick, has now announced a focused follow-up inspection which will assess whether there has been any improvement.
Mrs Demick said: “In our most recent annual report we noted there had been a number of positive developments across COPFS in response to our inspection on how well it manages and prosecutes cases involving domestic abuse at sheriff summary level, but we have found limited evidence of immediate steps to ensure that victims of domestic abuse are timeously receiving basic information about their case – including its outcome.
“We expressed our disappointment at this lack of progress, and this was a key factor in our decision to initiate this focused follow-up inspection.”
The new inspection will concentrate on whether COPFS is providing basic information to victims of domestic abuse about their case at key stages including when the accused first appears in court, following a case management hearing or intermediate diet, following a trial diet, sentencing and when a case is concluded.
The follow-up review will also assess how well COPFS communicates with domestic abuse victims through the Summary Case Management (SCM) initiative, which aims to reduce the number of cases set for trial unnecessarily, in turn reducing the adverse impact on victims and other witnesses.
As part of the SCM process, COPFS introduced ‘enhanced victim engagement’ which requires prosecutors to telephone victims in summary domestic abuse cases in the early stages of proceedings and in certain cases offer an in-person meeting.
At the time of the previous IPS inspection looking at how well COPFS managed and prosecuted cases involving domestic abuse at sheriff summary level, the Summary Case Management initiative was being run as a pilot scheme.
It has since become the national model across all COPFS offices.
The new review will look at the offices of Dundee, Glasgow, Hamilton and Paisley, where summary case management has had time to become embedded, and look at whether ‘enhanced victim engagement’ has taken place, been recorded, and at the quality of any record made.
Mrs Demick added: “This is a hugely important issue. Poor communication with victims risks them becoming unsupportive of the prosecution and losing confidence in the justice system overall.”
IPS has published the full Terms of Reference for the follow-up review on its website Publications | HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland
The findings of the review are set to be published by the end of 2026.
Note
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland (IPS) aims to promote excellence and confidence in Scotland’s prosecution service through independent, evidence-based scrutiny.
In April 2024 IPS made 27 recommendations following an inspection of the prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level. All recommendations were accepted by COPFS.
The report noted there had been 63,867 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in 2023-24. In the same year 30,100 separate domestic abuse charges were reported to COPFS.
During the 2024 inspection IPS reviewed communication for 61 victims and found the overall quality of communication to be unsatisfactory for 80% of those victims.
Tackling violence against women and girls is a strategic priority for COPFS.