The Justice Committee has agreed to take evidence at Stage 2 on some of the amendments lodged for Stage 2 which it considers raise significant new issues that were not considered during the Committee’s Stage 1 inquiry.

The three topics on which the Committee is inviting evidence are as follows:

New offences relating to stalking

Amendment 402 (lodged by Rhoda Grant) provides for a new offence of stalking, for which the maximum penalty (on conviction on indictment) would be five years’ imprisonment.  An alternative amendment, 378 (lodged by the Scottish Government) provides for a new offence involving threatening, alarming or distressing behaviour, carrying the same maximum penalty. 

These two amendments are grouped for debate with amendments 399, 400 and 401 (also lodged by Rhoda Grant).

Sentencing for knife crime

Amendment 10 (lodged by Richard Baker) proposes a change to sentencing law to require a court, other than in exceptional cases, to impose a sentence of imprisonment or detention for at least 6 months for anyone over 16 convicted of an offence under section 49 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 (offence of having in a public place an article with a blade or point).

An amendment to amendment 10 (10A, lodged by Bill Aitken) proposes instead a minimum custodial sentence of two years, other than where there are mitigating circumstances and the court thinks fit to impose a shorter term or a non-custodial sentence.

These two amendments are grouped together for the purposes of debate.

Offence of engaging in paid-for sexual activity (and related new offences)

Amendment 8 (lodged by Trish Godman) proposes changes to the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 to create three new offences – engaging in a paid-for sexual activity, advertising paid-for sexual activities, and facilitating engagement in a paid-for sexual activity, all to be subject, on summary conviction, to a fine of up to £1,000.

Amendments to amendment 8 (8A-8D, lodged by Margo Macdonald) propose the addition of two further offences – causing alarm etc. by engaging in a paid-for sexual activity and profiting from coerced paid-for sexual activities – subject to the same penalties.

These amendments are grouped for debate with consequential amendments 9 and 9A, which specify which of the new offences are to be classed as “exploitation offences” for the purposes of the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004.

Update: On 10 March 2010, Nigel Don lodged amendment 461 which will also be included in this topic. The amendment creates an offence of paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force etc.

Oral evidence

The Committee plans to take oral evidence on all three topics at its meeting on Tuesday 23 March.  Further details of the witnesses who will be invited that day will be announced in due course.

Formal proceedings on the amendments will not take place until the oral evidence has been heard.

Call for written submissions

The Committee would welcome written submissions on any (or all) of these three topics. 

Before making a submission, please read our policy for handling information received in response to calls for evidence:

Policy on treatment of written evidence by subject and mandatory committees (pdf 15kb)

The closing date for written submissions is Wednesday 17 March (to enable all submissions to be circulated in advance of the 23 March meeting).  

Submissions should not normally exceed four sides of A4.  The Committee prefers to receive written submissions electronically in MS Word format. These should be sent to:

cjlb@scottish.parliament.uk or justice.committee@scottish.parliament.uk

You may also make hard copy written submissions to:

Justice Committee

Room T3.60

The Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

Written submissions will be posted on the Committee’s web-page for the Bill:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/justice/inquiries/criminaljusticeandlicensing/index.htm.

Some submissions on amendment 8 have already been received and posted on this page.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Contact: For specific information on the Bill, please contact Andrew Proudfoot, Assistant Clerk to the Committee, on 0131 348 5047 or email cjlb@scottish.parliament.uk