Chamber and committees

I am sure that we will come back to that question. I will open up the floor to members, starting with Katy Clark, who is joining us online.

Yes—I will hand over to Professor Thomas.

Katy, would you like to bring in anyone else on that issue?

Professor Munro, can I just come in? There is a lot of interest in this topic, and I know that members are keen to come in, as is Professor Chalmers. Therefore, I will bring in Professor Chalmers, and then we will move on.

Yes.

We have spoken in great detail today about the jury research and the proposal to pilot juryless trials. I will move on to the proposal to create a sexual offences court. The evidence that we have heard, and the written submissions that we have received, have reflected a range of views about that particular provision.

I am interested in hearing the academic perspective and to know whether Professor Chalmers and Professor Munro support that particular proposal. The committee is trying to visualise what an effective and successful sexual offences court would look like. In your view, what key elements must exist to make that model work effectively and to improve victims’ experiences?

I put that question to Professor Chalmers first.

There is lots of interest in this, so I will open it up to questions from members.

Okay, thank you. That concludes our first panel this morning. I thank our witnesses for attending the meeting. It has been hugely valuable, so thank you very much indeed. We will now have a short suspension to allow for a wee comfort break and a changeover of witnesses.

Thank you very much. I bring in Simon Di Rollo.

It is safe to say that, as a result of the written submissions and the evidence that we have heard in committee, we are acutely aware of the breadth of views that exist. As you will know, there are some very supportive views, not least of which are those of the Lord Advocate and Lady Dorrian. We have the lovely job of trying to pull all of that together and do the best job that we can to respond and to populate our report.

My question bears in mind that broad range of views. There have been some helpful suggestions—particularly, as we have heard, in your profession—about what a specialist approach in Scotland to sexual offence cases would look like. I will bring in Sheila Webster on this. I am interested in teasing out a bit more about the key elements in a specialist approach to dealing with sexual offences and rape cases.