Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025

114 Interpretation

In this Act—

• “the 1995 Act” means the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995,

• “the 2014 Act” means the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014,

• “the 2020 Act” means the Children (Scotland) Act 2020,

• “trauma-informed practice” is a means of operating that—

  (a)

  recognises that a person may have experienced trauma,

  (b)

  understands the effects which trauma may have on the person, including how trauma may affect any evidence given by the person, and

  (c)

  based on that understanding, involves adapting and implementing processes and practices to—

  (i)

  seek to avoid, or minimise the risk of, exposing the person to any recurrence of past trauma or to further trauma,

  (ii)

  seek to avoid, or minimise the risk of, negatively impacting the person’s recovery from trauma,

  (iii)

  enable the person to participate effectively in court proceedings.