Petitioner: Parveen Haq
Status:
Closed
Date Lodged:
03 August 2015
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to change the law of evidence so that in cases where a person is tried for a crime that has no connection to his/her occupation, his/her occupation should be dealt with by the courts as an irrelevant and non-aggravating factor.
Summary:
22 September 2015: The Committee took evidence from Parveen Haq. The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Sentencing Council. Link to Official Report 22 September 2015
12 January 2016: The Committee agreed to close the petition, under Rule 15.7, on the basis that the Scottish Sentencing Council has agreed to consider whether the issue raised by the petition should form part of its work programme. Link to Official Report 12 January 2016
Written Submissions:
I have spoken to a number of MP's and they all say that people who hold a position of trust such as police officers and lawyers are treated harshly in court for any conviction. What I want to know is: Why? Are they not human like everyone else?
This petition is in order that evidential law can be changed and when a case is taken to court, a person's occupation should not be revealed unless that occupation has been used as part of the crime.
A domestic issue has no relevance at all with any occupation, no matter what it is, but the punishement given is much higher if you are a police officer or a lawyer. Most domestic issues don't even reach court but apparently a police officer can be accused of anything by anyone and the way they are treated is appalling.