New digital justice legislation will have to be passed by December next year or temporary measures adopted during Covid will expire.
‘Progressive’ arrangements put in place during the pandemic such as remote jury trials, fully virtual summary trials and virtual custody courts – along with electronic citations – are set to be made permanent according to new papers published by the Scottish Government.
The provisions of the proposed Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill were outlined this week online.
Part of the focus of the dual-part bill is to ‘improve the experiences of people who come into contact with the justice system through the modernisation of criminal procedures’.
“The first part of the Bill aims to do this by providing a basis for the ongoing and future resilience, effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice sector through modernisation, in particular through greater use of digital processes,” the executive summary of a business and regulatory impact assessment paper read.
Among the provisions outlined in the bill – which have already created “significant efficiencies” – include greater use of electronic signatures, which have meant that High Court indictments have been able to be “received electronically and search warrants being granted remotely”.
Temporary arrangements set up during Covid and allowing for virtual attendance in criminal courts – i.e. via a video link – are also set to be made permanent, again improving efficiency but allowing for a “more trauma-informed and person-centred justice system”. Other measures include making permanent ‘national callings from custody’, to ‘enable all sheriffs to hear custody cases no matter where the accused is being held, no matter where the sheriff normally has jurisdiction, and no matter where the alleged offence took place’.
Another step forward is ‘digital productions’, which recognises the fact that more evidence than ever before is being gathered digitally.
The outline paper states: “Given the benefits of being able to quickly and easily obtain and use digital images in the criminal justice system this provision allows images of physical productions to be admissible in evidence in the same way as if the item itself had been produced in court.
“This provision promotes the use of modern technology and will support greater efficiency across the criminal justice system and along with the proposal to have virtual trials could enhance the way that evidence is led to create improvements in the court experience.”
The background section of the paper makes clear that the main vehicle for implementation will be Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC), which is funded by Scottish Government.
The national rollout of the £33 million programme was announced by Ministers in August, following a pilot of the programme in Dundee, where around 19,500 pieces of evidence were handled through the system – shared between the courts, police and legal teams – with almost 550 hours of police officers’ time freed up.
DESC handles evidence including CCTV footage, photographs, and data and other materials from computers and mobile devices. This will be expanded to include documents and recordings of police interviews.
The system means members of the public and businesses can submit digital evidence – such as material recorded on mobile phones – more easily by email when sent a link by a police officer. DESC also saves on transport costs and cuts CO2 emissions by reducing the need for physical evidence to be collected in person and stored.
The paper makes clear that the digitisation of the criminal justice system was sped up through the Covid era.
“The Covid-19 pandemic increased the pace of adoption of digital processes and innovation in many spheres, including the justice system. Throughout this period, a number of changes were made to operational practices and procedures, including the use of digital technologies, to ensure the continued operation of a viable justice system,” it said.
The second part of the Bill creates a statutory framework for Scotland’s national multi-agency domestic homicide and suicide review model. The model aims to learn lessons where a person has died due to abuse. The learning gained will facilitate change and improvements to be delivered so that individuals and communities are better supported by public services and deaths can be prevented, the paper states.
The Scottish Government intends to take Part 1 of the Bill forward in the current parliamentary year 2024-25. Without this legislation, the temporary justice measures in this Bill will expire on 30 November 2025, the paper states. Part 2 will also be dealt with this term.