Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Bill

# Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Bill The legislation seeks to strengthen legal protections against domestic abuse and sexual harm in Scotland by consolidating and modernising existing criminal law. It responds to concerns that the current legal framework—scattered across multiple statutes and common law—is fragmented and inconsistent, making it difficult for victims to access justice and for the criminal justice system to effectively prosecute offenders. The bill aims to create clearer, more comprehensive offences that better reflect the nature and impact of abusive behaviour, particularly coercive control within intimate relationships and non-consensual sexual conduct. The bill introduces new statutory offences replacing common law provisions, including a dedicated offence of domestic abuse that captures patterns of coercive control alongside physical violence, and revised sexual offence definitions that focus on consent as the central element. Key provisions modernise language and sentencing frameworks, improve consistency across different types of abuse, and clarify the legal definitions that prosecutors and courts must apply. The legislation also extends protections to a broader range of relationships beyond marriage and provides clearer guidance on aggravating factors relevant to sentencing. These changes are designed to ensure that the law better reflects contemporary understanding of abuse whilst providing victims with more effective remedies and increasing accountability for perpetrators.

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