Exclusive:Justice Denied: Rape victims asking to drop Scottish cases amid trauma of delays

Justice secretary points to reforms designed to reduce delays and ‘unnecessary’ adjournments

Lengthy delays in the justice system which force victims of serious sexual crimes to wait years for cases to conclude are resulting in some women asking to abandon their pursuit of justice because of the “unbearable” hold-ups, support organisations across Scotland have warned.

With many survivors of serious offences such as rape and sexual assault enduring delays of three years from offence to verdict, leading victims charities pointed to the “devastating impact”, with trauma and anxiety commonplace, and women left feeling their lives are in limbo.

In a sign of how the endemic problems throughout Scotland’s criminal justice system are causing victims to disengage from the legal process, both Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid said victims were asking for domestic abuse and sexual offence cases to be dropped as a consequence of the deep-rooted delays.

As detailed by The Scotsman as part of its week-long series scrutinising pressures in Scotland’s criminal justice system, the median time for non-historic ‘group two’ sexual offences to conclude in a verdict at the High Court stands at 1,034 days, with a wait of 657 days for sheriff and jury cases.

Victims of rape and other serious sexual offences are asking for their cases to be dropped due to frustrations with delays in the criminal justice system. | PA

Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: “Seeking justice following rape can be hard enough, but the delays in cases getting to court are causing significant additional trauma for rape survivors. Delays were already lengthy pre-Covid, but they are now so much worse.

“Survivors tell us they can't move on with their lives with the prospect of the trial hanging over them. Some tell us that they wake up every morning with the evidence they are going to give running through their mind. This can go on for years and can have a devastating impact.

“It can take quite a lot of support at times to keep people engaged with the process. For some, the impact of the delays on their lives is unbearable and they end up withdrawing altogether from the case.”

The problem of victim disengagement also extends to domestic abuse incidents. While the number and proportion of charges where no action was taken by prosecutors has steadily fallen over the past decade, Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, said victims were continuing to ask for cases to be dropped due to delays such as repeated adjournments.

An HM Inspectorate of Prosecution Scotland report last year found that at sheriff summary level, domestic abuse cases were being passed between prosecutors, leading to a “lack of case ownership” and delays, the discontinuation of cases at a late stage, and the risk of the victims “withdrawing from the process”.

Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women's Aid | Contributed

Dr Scott said the prevalence of floating trial diets and the number of cases subject to multiple postponements were having a “highly gendered” impact. “If you’re a woman in a rural area who lives far away from the court, and you can’t get childcare for your children, and you’re arriving at your case only to be told that it isn’t going forward, how likely are you to stay engaged with the process?” Dr Scott said. “Even when cases are scheduled, they are postponed, often because the defence isn’t prepared.

“The financial consequences are also important. Women are far less likely than the accused to have an independent source of income, and if the accused refuse to pay child maintenance - the likelihood, not the exception - women can’t pay for tenancies or put food on the table. In terms of daily life, these delays weigh in on the side of perpetrators.”

Kate Wallace, chief executive of Victim Support Scotland, said: “Sadly, our team all too often sees the devastating impact these delays have on victims of crime and their families. These timeframes cause protracted trauma for victims – they often tell us they feel unable to move on with their lives during this drawn-out process.

“While it’s easy to view these timeframes in isolation, it’s crucial to remember that every one of these statistics represents a person’s life changed forever. It has a hugely harmful impact on a person’s health and wellbeing, extending trauma, fuelling anxiety and leaving them without the closure that would enable them to move on with their lives. Often, they hold the details of the crime at the forefront of their mind, so that they can give their best evidence - to the detriment of their mental health.”

The Scotsman's week-long series is scrutinising pressures in the criminal justice system. | TSPL

While numerous challenges remain, John Logue, chief executive of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), pointed to innovations that had brought about progress.

He said: “I recognise that there will be cases in which victims of sexual and domestic abuse are really anxious about the progress of cases and are having that conversation with us.

“Pilot work, which is now being rolled out nationally, is to establish conversations between prosecutors and victims right at the beginning of domestic abuse cases. Such cases disproportionately impact on the lives of women and children and we need to be part of changing that.

“This means that victims are now getting a call directly from a prosecutor, and it’s a conversation to see if people have anything they want to add or ask. It’s early days yet, but we would hope that that improves engagement, and helps prosecutors develop cases evidentially.”

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “I have heard directly from victims of sexual offences about how their experiences of the justice system can lead to additional trauma and I am clear that this must change. The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform Bill, which is being considered by Parliament, proposes a transformational package of reforms, including the creation of a new stand-alone sexual offences court. This will help to identify and resolve issues that delay cases coming to trial and reduce unnecessary adjournments.

“The reforms will also support greater use of pre-recorded evidence, which can allow victims to give their evidence earlier and reduce their risk of re-traumatisation, and the establishment of an independent victims and witnesses commissioner to champion victims’ rights.”