Leith Links Community Council

Due to going into Hospital this site may not be updated for the next two weeks.

The Editor

A Bill has been introduced to the Scottish Parliament to reform the law on rape and sexual offences.

Scotland has a once in a generation opportunity to clarify and strengthen the law on rape and sexual offences, Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, said today.

The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill is based on proposals from the Scottish Law Commission.

For the first time it defines ‘consent’ in law and replaces the common-law offence of rape with a broader statutory offence (including male rape). It introduces new statutory offences dealing with sexual exposure, particularly in non-public places, the ‘spiking’ of drinks for sexual purposes and coercive sexual conduct, including sexually offensive emails or texts.

The legislation includes ‘protective offences’ to guard against sexual activity with those whose capacity to consent is either entirely absent or not fully formed either due to age or a mental disorder.

The Bill is broadly in line with the main Commission proposals but for two provisions: the recommendation to decriminalise all consensual sexual activity between 13-15 year olds; and the recommendation to decriminalise consensual adult sexual violence.

For the first time, the Bill will enable Scottish law enforcement agencies to pursue and prosecute anyone from Scotland who commits a sex crime under Scots law against someone under-18 abroad (including child pornography and child prostitution offences) regardless of the laws applied in that country.

Mr MacAskill said:

“I’m grateful to the Scottish Law Commission for their detailed, considered work and to all those who responded to the consultation. There is widespread agreement that the existing law is unclear and derives from time with very different attitudes from today.

“This is a once in a generation opportunity for Parliament to review, reform and clarify the complex mix of common law and statute with a clear legal framework that more accurately reflects the values of modern society.

“Of course, reform of rape law will not, on its own, improve low conviction rates. Other on-going work is vital – improving investigation and prosecution of rape and sexual assault, reviewing law of evidence and challenging public attitudes to rape and sexual assault.

“However this Bill will, together with this other work, contribute to improving the criminal justice system’s response to crimes of rape and sexual assault.

“The need for reform is agreed but shape of that – in law and practice – is matter of debate and will continue to be so as Parliament considers it.

“I don’t doubt the sincerity of those expressing divergent views on difficult, sensitive issues and who will continue to hold deeply-held opinions. But whatever decisions we take, the rights of victims, protection of society’s most vulnerable and the interests of justice must remain our focus.”

As well as a broader definition of rape, the Bill creates a range of statutory sexual offences and a definition of consent based on “free agreement” – specifying range of illustrative scenarios where consent is not given.

It also includes ‘protective offences’ and will continue to treat sexual intercourse with or between under-16s as unlawful.

Commenting on this part of the Bill, Mr MacAskill added:

“The Commission made a clear distinction between non-consensual or adult predatory sexual behaviour and consensual sexual activity between older children and we have recognised that distinction.

“But having considered the proposal to decriminalise sexual intercourse between 13-15 year olds, and the various consultation responses, we have decided against such a change. The law must continue to make clear that society does not encourage sex between children, as it can be cause for concern for a child’s welfare, even where apparently consensual.

“Our sexual health strategy places particular emphasis on respectful relationships and encouraging young people to delay engaging in sexual intercourse, which can lead to unintended pregnancy, as well as sexually transmitted infections.

“There are also concerns that decriminalising sexual intercourse between children may make it more difficult to resist peer pressure and we have noted particularly the concerns of senior police and Rape Crisis Scotland.

“We also decided not to decriminalise consensual sexual violence as we agree that by weakening the law Parliament could open a legal loophole for rapists and perpetrators of domestic violence. It’s also counter to the thrust of the Bill – to protect people from sex crimes and exploitation.”

It is currently an offence under Scots law to commit a sex offence against a child abroad only where that is also an offence under the laws of the country in question. The Bill removes the requirement for ‘dual criminality’ in respect of UK nationals and will thereby bring Scots law into line with the requirements of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.

In 2004, the Scottish Law Commission was commissioned by the then Justice Minister “to examine the law relating to rape and other sexual offences and the evidential requirements for proving such offences and to make recommendations for reform.” The SLC published a discussion paper, seeking views on their emerging findings, in January 2006 and its final report and recommendations, including a draft Bill, were published in on December 19, 2007.

A public consultation on the Commission’s final report and draft Bill was also published on December 19. More than 1,200 responses were received, the vast majority of which were from individuals.

The Bill is part of a range of measures being taken to improve how the criminal justice system responds to rape and other sex offences and to challenge unacceptable attitudes to rape and what constitutes consent.

The Justice Secretary has asked the Scottish Law Commission to review aspects of criminal procedure including admissibility of evidence of bad character or of previous convictions and similar fact evidence and the Moorov doctrine (that allows two or more victims whose evidence is otherwise uncorroborated to provide mutual corroboration where there is a close connection in the time, character and circumstances of the charges).

The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service is currently implementing the 50 recommendations from its comprehensive review of the handling of the investigation and prosecution of rape and other serious sexual offences.

The Scottish Government has provided £200,000 to Rape Crisis Scotland to develop a campaign to help change public attitudes to rape.

Source-Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Government today launched its new approach to tackling alcohol misuse with the aim of changing Scotland’s relationship with drink.

Key proposals in the consultation document include:

Raising the minimum age for off-sales alcohol purchases to 21
Setting a minimum price at which a unit of alcohol can be sold
Ending ‘three for the price of two’ type promotions, which encourage impulse buying of extra alcohol
A ‘social responsibility fee’ for some alcohol retailers to help pay for the consequences of alcohol misuse and reduce the burden on the general taxpayer
Introducing alcohol-only checkouts in large off-sales premises, so that alcohol, like cigarettes, is thought of as a special case and not ‘just another product’
Confirmation of a record £85 million increase in alcohol prevention, treatment and support services, bringing total spend to £120 million over the next three years (as previously announced as part of the Spending Review)
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon said:

“The Scottish Government is determined to tackle alcohol misuse. People across all sections of society, of all ages, are drinking ever greater quantities of stronger alcoholic drinks. It should come as no surprise that alcohol-related health problems have risen hand-in-hand with this increased consumption.

“The cost of alcohol misuse to our health service, our justice services and our economy is enormous and growing. The cost to our families, our communities and our society is incalculable.

“Now is the time for action to defuse the health time-bomb alcohol misuse is storing up for the future.

“We believe that by raising the age for off-sales purchase of alcohol to 21, together with better enforcement, we will reduce excessive consumption among young people.

“Setting a minimum price for a unit of alcohol will mean price better reflects the strength of alcoholic drinks. This will end the heavy discounting which allows strong drink to be sold cheaper than bottled water.

“I believe this country has so much potential, but we need a healthier relationship with alcohol if we are to maximise it. We all have a personal responsibility to drink sensibly but government also has a responsibility to show leadership.

“We are not anti-alcohol – but we are concerned about alcohol misuse. Today we are putting forward our ideas for tackling this issue. We want to hear as many views as possible, because we all have an interest in getting to grips with this situation.”

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said:

“We can no longer sit back and let alcohol misuse continue to take its shocking toll on our criminal justice system, health service and economy. In criminal justice alone we know that two-thirds of murders are fuelled by drink and almost half of prisoners admitting to being drunk when they offended,

“Alcohol is part of Scottish culture, and we value the contribution of the industry to our economy and national life, but we’ve got our drinking out of kilter. It’s not the drink, it’s how we’re drinking it. I believe these proposals will help us build on the changes brought in by the Licensing Act, such as ending happy hours in pubs and clubs and bringing in separate display areas for alcohol.

“They can kick-start the long term cultural shift in our society that we need. For example our Social Responsibility Fee can help pay for the costs of alcohol misuse, while minimum pricing will reduce the availability of high strength low cost alcohol .

“I’d encourage everyone to take the time to get involved, look at these proposals and think about your own alcohol consumption. Together we can help get Scotland’s relationship with alcohol back on the level.”

The consultation document refers to many statistics that reinforce the need for a new approach to tackling alcohol misuse, including:

The total cost of alcohol misuse in Scotland is estimated at £2.25 billion per year – £500 for every adult living in Scotland
Alcohol-related visits to Scottish hospitals have increased by almost 50 per cent over the last decade and alcohol-related death rates have more than doubled
Scotland has one of the fastest growing liver cirrhosis death rates in the world at a time when cirrhosis rates in most of Western Europe are falling
Almost half (45 per cent) of Scottish prisoners in 2007 said they were drunk at the time of the offence
95 per cent of respondents to the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey (SCVS) 2006 saw alcohol abuse in Scotland as a problem
Alcohol is a contributory factor in one in three divorces
65,000 children are living with a parent or carer who has an alcohol problem
Ministers launched the consultation, which will run until September 9, in Armadale, West Lothian, which recently ran a successful six-week pilot in which the purchase of off-sales alcohol was restricted to over-21s at weekends. The trial resulted in a drop in calls about antisocial behaviour, youth drinking and vandalism.

Following the consultation, the Scottish Government envisages legislating in time for many of the measures to coincide with the new Licensing Act coming into force on September 1, 2009.

source-Scottish Parliament

COUNCIL chiefs are spending £100,000 on a survey of Edinburgh’s trees – at the same time as sweeping cutbacks are being made and school closures are being discussed.

All 28,000 trees in the city are being examined to build-up a database which can be used by the city’s parks department.

for more click here-

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/100k-for-tree-survey-while.4230991.jp

WHEN the Leith Walk traders hit by the tram work might have thought things couldn’t get any worse, along comes the latest development that will see the introduction of a one-way system – and the bad news for Easter Road residents is that the traffic going in the opposite direction is coming their way.

for more click here-

http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Tram-work-disruption-39Everything-is.4229618.jp