Calls to boost victims' rights

Victim Support Scotland is to launch No Going Back, its 2011-2015 Manifesto for Action, in Edinburgh on Thursday.

The charity believes that services to victims and witnesses of crime must be further improved.

Among key demands will be additional measures to ensure that the needs of victims and witnesses of crime are paramount; that victims are given a voice in community sentences and direct measures and that victims' compensation is paid up front by the state.