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What information you can receive
There are two parts to the scheme and, if you choose to take part, you can choose to opt in to either part 1 or part 2, or both parts.
There is one exception to this, however. If you are the victim of a short-term sex offender sentenced prior to 15 May 2008 or a short-term extended sentence offender sentenced prior to 15 May 2008, you will only be able to opt in to part 1 of the scheme. In practice, this will mean that you will not be able to make written comments (representations) to the Parole Board if the offender is recalled to prison after being released and is being considered for re-release. In addition, you will not be able to make representations when licence conditions for the offender are being set prior to his or her release. However, you will still receive all of the information which you are eligible to receive under part 1 of the scheme (see below).
Part 1
If you join part 1 of the scheme you can be told:
(a) The date of release of the offender from prison or detention. This information will usually be sent to you about a month before the offender's date of release, so that you have some prior warning of it. The exceptions to this are life prisoners or offenders with extended sentences who have been recalled to prison. In these cases, the offender must be released immediately following a direction from the Parole Board. It is therefore possible in these cases that the person will have been released before you receive notification.
(b) The date of release if the offender in your case is to be released on Home Detention Curfew or HDC. You will be informed of the date of release on HDC by the Scottish Prison Service. However, you should note that in some cases there is a very short time between the offender being approved for HDC and then being released. Wherever possible, the Scottish Prison Service will try to let you know in advance when an offender is to be released on HDC, but this may not always be possible before his or her release.
(c) If the offender dies in custody before being released, the date of the death. This information will be sent to you as soon as possible after the date of the death. You should be aware that there may be early press coverage of the death of an offender.
(d) If the offender has been transferred out of Scotland, the date of the transfer. It may be possible to make arrangements for notification in the country that the offender is being transferred to that are similar to those in Scotland. The Scottish Prison Service will offer to make enquiries on your behalf about this, if you wish.
(e) That the offender has become eligible for temporary release. When offenders serve long sentences they can become involved in training and rehabilitation programmes and can be allowed leave for short periods of home leave from prison or work placement in preparation for release. You will be informed when the offender first becomes eligible for temporary release. However, you will not be told about each individual period of temporary release.
(f) If the offender has escaped or absconded. Sometimes offenders fail to return to prison after home leave or a work placement. The police are alerted immediately. If the offender is considered to present a threat to the victim, the police will take steps to ensure that the victim is notified as soon as possible. Usually, however, offenders who fail to return from home leave or work placement, return to prison within the first 48 hours. You will be notified about the offender escaping or absconding if the offender remains at large for longer than
48 hours. You will also be told when the offender is returned to custody.
(g) The date on which the offender has been returned to a prison or young offenders institution to continue serving a sentence from which he or she has previously been released. This might occur, for example, where an offender has had any release licence revoked (cancelled or withdrawn), or following an order of the court.
(h) The date on which the original sentence ends. If an offender has been returned to prison because a further offence has been committed before the original sentence has expired, you will be told that the original sentence has ended and that the offender remains in prison. At this point you will no longer be a member of the Victim Notification Scheme or VNS and you will not be told when any further sentence given to the offender ends. When an extended sentence offender has been recalled to custody and remains in prison beyond the end of the extended sentence because they are serving a further sentence, you will be told when the extension period expires, after that you will no longer be a member of the VNS in relation to this offence.
Part 2
You can also, if you wish, decide to join part 2 of the Victim Notification Scheme. If you are the victim of a child offender, you can join part 2 of the scheme as long as (s)he has reached the age of 16 years by the time of their release or by the time their case is referred to the Parole Board to consider early release.
If you decide to join part 2 of the VNS this means that:
(a) When the Parole Board or Scottish Ministers (in the case of short-term sex offenders) are due to consider the case affecting you, you will be given the chance to send written comments (representations) to either the Parole Board or Scottish Ministers via the Victims, Witnesses, Parole and Life Sentence Review Division or ( VWPLSRD) of the Scottish Government. You can explain in your own words anything that is relevant to the decision about whether the offender can be released. In particular, you can give information about any fears you have about coming into contact again with the offender or any reasons you have for thinking that the offender might be a danger to the public or to you personally or to members of your family.
If the offender is to be released automatically, the Parole Board or Scottish Ministers will only consider your comments about the conditions which are to be attached to his or her licence. Please see page 6 for more information about the release of offenders.
(b) The Board or Scottish Ministers will consider your comments along with the other information that it has. In cases considered by the Board, i.e. offenders serving sentences of 4 years or more in custody, you will also be informed whether or not it has recommended or directed the offender's release on licence. This information will be sent to you as soon as possible after the offender's case has been considered by the Board.
(c) Y ou will also be informed in all cases of the terms of any conditions which have been attached to the licence that relate to you or your family. This information will be sent to you as soon as possible after the offender's case has been considered by the Board or Scottish Ministers.
If you have opted in to part 2 of the VNS, the Board or Victims, Witnesses, Parole and Life Sentence Review Division (on behalf of the Scottish Ministers) will tell you about its decisions whether or not you choose to send any written comments.
(d) When an offender is granted parole at the halfway point of their sentence and has applied to be considered for release on Home Detention Curfew, you will have already been invited to send written representations about the release of the offender on parole. That letter will also have asked if you wish the same representations to be passed on to the Victim Notification Scheme Unit or VNS Unit at the Scottish Prison Service if the offender is eligible for release on HDC. The VNS Unit will, as far as is reasonably possible, aim to anonymise your comments and pass them on to the relevant Prison Governor for consideration before any decision is made to release an offender on HDC. You can also add any further information you want to be taken into account by the Prison Governor about the offender's release on HDC. Although the Prison Governor will take your comments into account, (s)he must balance them against a duty to ensure, as far as possible, that the offender doesn't commit any further crimes and is re-integrated back into the community.
Under the process, the offender must apply to be considered for release on HDC and must have been granted parole when they first apply at the halfway point in their sentence. Even if the offender in your case is eligible to apply to be considered, this does not necessarily mean that (s)he will do so.
Although the Scottish Prison Service will make every effort to maintain your anonymity, the offender will be made aware of your comments if they have an impact on the decision about his or her release or on the specific conditions attached to the offender's licence on HDC.
(e) If an offender is approved for release on HDC, you will be informed of the date on which the offender is to be released. This information will be sent to you as soon as possible after the offender's case has been considered by the Prison Governor even if you choose not to send any written comments. The Scottish Prison Service will also advise you of any licence conditions which directly affect you and your family.
(f) If the Scottish Prison Service has not approved the offenders release on HDC, the offender has the right to challenge this decision. This will be dealt with through the Internal Complaints Procedure.
More information about how the parole system works and the role of the Parole Board for Scotland can be found atwww.scottishparoleboard.gov.uk
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