You may witness a crime being committed, or even worse, find yourself the victim. Both scenarios can be incredibly distressing and the perpetrator should not go unpunished. Making a police statement is vital, as even in cases with multiple witnesses, your personal account could be the one that seals the deal when it comes to prosecution.

Crime statements

After a crime has been committed, any witnesses and victims will be asked to complete a written statement of what happened, for the police to be clear on the order of events. The police may need to speak to you more than once to check any information or request further details. This statement could be used in court if the case progresses that far.

Taking these statements and additional evidence into account, the police will decide if a crime has been committed and whether it should be reported to the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).

Precognition statements

The Procurator Fiscal will decide whether the accused is to be prosecuted, and if so, they may interview you about the crime. This is known as precognition.

You would be sent a citation requesting your attendance at the meeting. This meeting must be attended, and if you are unable to make the date and time provided, you must contact COPFS as soon as possible to reschedule. The questions asked in this interview will likely be different and more in-depth than previous questions asked by the police and you may be asked to write a precognition statement.

Victim statements

When a case is due to go to court, you will be asked to write a statement that tells the court in your own words how the crime has affected you physically, emotionally or financially. This statement will be different to any previous reports that you may have made with the police or Procurator Fiscal. You can decline this if you wish and the case will still go to court, just without your additional statement to use as evidence.

Can you withdraw a statement?

There are a range of reasons why a victim or witness may want to withdraw a statement given in relation to a crime. It could be an issue with the statement itself; being interviewed or questioned by the police can be intimidating and stressful, which may result in sharing details that are later, upon reflection, regretted. It may be due to slow-paced progression of the case, or perhaps concern over giving a statement to the accused’s solicitor, or appearing in court to give evidence. In more extreme cases, there may be a fear of violent repercussions from the accused or their associates.

Scottish law is clear: prosecution is done in the public interest, not on a personal behalf. Once the police pass the case on to the Procurator Fiscal, it is the fiscal’s sole decision as to whether the case goes ahead to court. A victim or witness does not have the right to stop it and cannot ‘drop the charges’.

Due to this, a statement cannot be withdrawn after it is made. There are opportunities to make amends if an important detail is remembered or if your situation has changed. This will be in the form of a new statement that updates the previous information provided. Remember that giving false information within a legal statement is a crime that can lead to prosecution, so you should not need to withdraw a statement due to inaccuracy unless there is a good reason as to why.

Victim rights

The Victim’s Code for Scotland sets out certain rights that witnesses and victims have after being affected by a crime. The intention of this code is to alleviate some of the stress of the legal process. You have:

• The right to feel safe and protected from intimidation.
• The right to receive a minimum standard of service from all criminal justice organisations.
• The right to feel supported after a crime has been committed, whether a police report is filed or not

Various methods of support are available for vulnerable individuals to assist them throughout the court case, helping to reduce the emotional implications of giving statements and evidence in the trial. The types of support offered will vary depending on the individual and the circumstances of the crime. There are also a range of organisations and services that provide support to victims and witnesses after a crime has been committed, even if the crime is not reported.

Witnessing or falling victim to a crime can be a difficult time, but reporting the crime to the police is incredibly important to ensure that those involved see proper justice.