Domestic Homicide and Suicide Reviews in Scotland: Protocol

2. Legislation and Purpose

Part 2 of the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Act 2025 (the 2025 Act) created a statutory framework for domestic homicide and suicide reviews in Scotland. Part 2 of the 2025 Act came fully into force on 1 April 2026.

Section 24 of the 2025 Act makes provision for a protocol. The purpose of the protocol is to set out in general terms, the processes and arrangements that are intended to be followed by the parties in order to prevent, insofar as is within their power, domestic homicide and suicide reviews causing prejudice to criminal investigations, other investigations directed by the Lord Advocate or a procurator fiscal, criminal proceedings, a Fatal Accident Inquiry or a public inquiry for which the Scottish Ministers are solely responsible.

The protocol also sets out detail on several aspects relating to how the review process will operate. These include:

• the approach to sharing information outwith the purposes of a review on deaths notified or referred to the review oversight committee and information relating to any potential domestic homicide or suicide that is being reviewed or considered for review;
• circumstances in which the Scottish Ministers may decide to overturn a decision made by the Review Oversight Committee not to review a death, and the process for communicating that decision to the Review Oversight Committee;
• the process for seeking Lord Advocate consent where the Review Oversight Committee considers that a review should be expanded in the case of a young person or adult at risk.
• circumstances in which the Lord Advocate may decide to pause or stop a review, the process for doing so and the process for communicating that a review can recommence;
• the circumstances in which a person is not to be interviewed or required to provide information under a domestic homicide or suicide review without the prior consent of the Chief Constable, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, and/ or the Lord Advocate;
• when information obtained through a domestic homicide or suicide review will be provided by the Review Oversight Committee or Case Review Panel to the Chief Constable, Lord Advocate or the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, where appropriate;
• how draft review reports/ partial reports are to be shared for the purpose of factual accuracy checking prior to a report being submitted to the Review Oversight Committee for quality assurance;
• consideration of finalised draft review reports and assessment of risk prior to Lord Advocate consent being sought to publish a report;
• how the Review Oversight Committee will ensure it fulfils its duty to publish information on the recommendations within the review report if Lord Advocate consent is not gained for the publication of the review report;
• how finalised review reports will be shared with relevant others where Lord Advocate consent to publish is not gained;
• the process for engagement with convicted or suspected perpetrators following a criminal justice outcome;
• the position in relation to Freedom of Information requests and Subject Access Requests; and
• the process for how frequently the parties will keep the protocol under review.