Surge in Scots crime victims attempting suicide as justice revamp promised

10.02.2022 - 08:05 / dailyrecord.co.uk

Victim Support Scotland has seen a dramatic surge in people it helps being at risk of suicide amid a large backlog of cases coming to court.

It revealed the shock rise as Justice Minister Keith Brown announced a major revamp of the courts system to provide more support to victims – especially women and girls.

Kate Wallace, Chief Executive of Victim Support Scotland (VSS), said that pre-Covid there were two to three cases each year of attempted suicide among victims – but now they were experiencing that number each month.

She said: “Every single day we see the impact of the court backlog. We know a number of people have attempted suicide and we have had to intervene.

“We have had to get emergency ambulance services out to people.”

Wallace said as well as delays in establishing court dates, constant adjournments were also compounding the stress victims are suffering.

She said: “Delays in the process are really exacerbating some of the mental health issues people have and the trauma they are experiencing.

“Some people are waiting three years when they expect a case to be over in one. They can’t move on with their lives.”

Wallace said some victims were feeling the need to make their own moves because of delays, saying: “It is rare but someone did report to us that they were going to take the law into their own hands and we had to report that to the police.”

The court backlog has also had a disproportionate impact on children. She said: “For children who have been a victim of crime, the amount of time in their life a case can take up can be huge.

“A three-year delay to a child can have a big impact on their development.”

Wallace was speaking at the release of the Scottish Government’s new Vision for Justice strategy yesterday and

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