Scotland needs more specialist domestic abuse courts to deliver justice for survivors

When I was called for jury duty at the High Court at the start of the year, I knew it was going to be tough. Sure enough, when I arrived, we were told it was a sexual assault and domestic abuse trial. Without going into too much detail, what followed were long days of grim witness statements and difficult exchanges.

While I was already supportive of the idea of specialist sexual offences courts, my time watching as a juror has reinforced my assumption that this would be a positive step in improving the experience for survivors. The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill is currently undergoing stage two at Holyrood, and while the Scottish Government has had to step back from some of its headline proposals – piloting juryless trials, for example, or reducing the jury size from 15 to 12 – it will seek to create courts specifically focused on dealing with sexual offences.

These new courts will allow prosecutors to choose the best place for the victims to get justice, including by providing trauma-informed personnel, enabling complainers to give pre-recorded evidence where possible, and generally improving pre-trial and trial procedures to better suit the needs of survivors.

I believe these changes will represent a significant improvement, and the exacerbation of trauma because of current legal processes that many rape survivors report will be reduced. But I’m also now convinced the bill doesn’t go far enough. What I would like to see is a broadening of these courts to include all domestic abuse cases, not just those which involve sexual harm. 

Dedicated domestic abuse courts are already possible in Scotland, but the majority of jurisdictions have not pursued that option. Glasgow is a notable exception, and a report by HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland last year proved its worth. Chief inspector Laura Paton found prosecution reports were “consistently better” in Glasgow compared to elsewhere in the country, which supported better decision-making. The average waiting period for cases was also lower than the national average despite having the highest volume, while fewer cases being timetabled in the specialist court compared to other courts in the city allowed more preparation time for prosecutors.

The inspectorate also highlighted “examples of better practice” in Dundee, where a summary case management pilot aiming to reduce the number of cases set down for trial unnecessarily has brought some benefits since September 2022.

The report’s conclusions were drawn from the experiences of domestic abuse survivors and the advocacy workers who supported them, and while it only looked at sheriff summary cases – those which are less serious – it’s easy to see how it could apply more broadly. Perhaps the new sexual offence courts could be a suitable home for these cases too.

Scotland has already made a great deal of progress in improving the experiences of domestic abuse survivors. The still relatively new Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act has helped create a better understanding of what constitutes abuse, including the pernicious impact of coercive control, and has made it easier to obtain a guilty verdict for a crime that takes place behind closed doors, making corroboration more difficult. As awareness of that Act gets better, so too will the Crown’s ability to deliver justice.

However, a review of the Act by academics from Edinburgh University has highlighted some gaps, including harm to children being “insufficiently recognised”, victims and witnesses feeling “particularly vulnerable” in the immediate aftermath of making the initial police report, and a “lack of communication, collaboration and involvement/transparency in decision making” for victims. These are all issues that a specialist court service could help resolve.

Getting justice for domestic abuse survivors is never going to be easy. There is no way around the requirement for victims to have to tell their story and potentially reopen wounds. What we should not stop doing is pulling out all the stops to ensure their bravery in coming forward does not come back to haunt them and results in more safe prosecutions of perpetrators.