Enabling jurors: business regulatory impact assessment
An assessment of the costs and benefits of the policy of enabling jurors that may affect the public, private and third sectors. This policy was added to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill at Stage 2 of the Bill's parliamentary process.
Section 5: Next steps and implementation
Preferred options
As set out in the ‘Options’ section of this paper, Option A – legislation, was found to be preferable to Option B – non legislative measures. The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill has been amended at Stage 2 of the parliamentary process to enable the appointment of juror communication supporters to support individuals who have a physical disability that means they need communicative assistance to partake in jury service.
This is because non-legislative measures are not sufficient to eliminate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, for example, deaf persons who require BSL interpreters, and wish to participate in jury duty but are prohibited by the current system.
Implementation considerations
We would expect to need at least six months after the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill passes for the policy to be implemented. This is because we will need to liaise with Criminal Court Rules Council on these changes and allow SCTS to plan around logistics and deliverables.
Post implementation review
The Scottish Government will continue to meet with SCTS and key stakeholders, both during and after implementation of the legislation, to monitor its progress. Section 66A of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill also requires that two reviews, at five-year intervals, of the whole Bill are undertaken.
Contact
Email: vwjrbill@gov.scot