Scottish justice system accused of failing women murdered by former partners

Scotland’s justice system has been accused of failing women who were murdered by former partners, as violence against women and girls dominated First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood.

First Minister John Swinney faced questions over whether enough is being done to protect women from abusive men, with opposition leaders highlighting cases in which women were killed despite previous concerns about the behaviour of their former partners. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told MSPs that women had been “horrifically let down” by the justice system and argued that warning signs and patterns of abusive behaviour were not always resulting in sufficient protection.

The exchanges followed renewed scrutiny of domestic abuse and violence against women in Scotland, including cases where perpetrators had previous contact with police or the courts before going on to commit fatal attacks. Sarwar raised the murders of women including Caroline Glachan and Emma Caldwell as he argued that failures within institutions had repeatedly left women vulnerable. He said the issue extended beyond individual cases and required a wider examination of how authorities respond to violence and abuse against women.

Swinney said violence against women and girls was a profound issue that required action across government, policing and the justice system. He acknowledged that women had been failed and said the government was committed to strengthening protections and tackling misogyny.

The Scottish Government has already announced plans for new legislation specifically targeting misogynistic behaviour. The proposed Misogyny Criminal Law Bill is expected to create new offences and strengthen the way misogyny is recognised within criminal law. The legislation forms part of a broader attempt to address behaviour that can escalate from harassment and intimidation to domestic abuse and serious violence. However, opposition politicians argued that legislation alone would not resolve weaknesses in the way existing cases are handled.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay also used FMQs to challenge the government’s record on violence against women, raising concerns about offenders and the protection available to victims. The debate comes amid continuing concern about the scale of domestic abuse in Scotland. Police record tens of thousands of domestic abuse incidents each year, with women accounting for the majority of victims where the sex of both parties is known.

Campaigners have repeatedly argued that domestic abuse should be understood as a pattern of controlling and threatening behaviour rather than only as individual incidents of physical violence. Scotland’s Domestic Abuse Act already recognises coercive and controlling behaviour as a criminal offence, but attention is increasingly turning to how effectively risk is identified before abuse escalates.

The issue is particularly serious when a relationship ends. Domestic abuse organisations have long warned that separation does not necessarily end the danger faced by a victim and can, in some circumstances, be a period of heightened risk.

Thursday’s exchanges at Holyrood reflected a wider question about whether police, courts and other public services are sufficiently equipped to recognise those risks and act on them. Swinney said his government would continue working to improve the response to violence against women and girls, while acknowledging the importance of learning from cases where the system had failed.

For the families of women who have been murdered, however, the debate is about more than future legislation. The central question being put to Scotland’s political leaders is whether opportunities to protect women are still being missed — and what needs to change to prevent another family discovering those failures only after a woman has been killed.

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