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Hello, I'm Lucy White and welcome to Podlitical with a difference.

For this episode, we're hitting pause and taking a bit of time to look at the issue of justice.

In particular, the long wait for justice for some of the most vulnerable women and children in society.

We'll look at how an unprecedented backlog in the Scottish court system is affecting survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. You're going to hear

testimony from Ellie and Susan. We've had to change Susan's name for legal reasons. Just a trigger

warning here. Some of what you're about to hear relates to rape and domestic violence and it could be

upsetting.

I've been the victim of serious domestic violence and I had been waiting since my abuser was arrested for the case to go to high court.

I was raped by someone who I trusted and loved very much and it took two years for the case to

actually go to court.

Before COVID, there was about an average of 10 to 12 weeks to court, which we were very proud of.

I mean, and it took a really long time to get the courts to adjust to that.

That's been wiped out.

COVID has had a huge impact on the business of justice, creating a backlog of court cases that's going to take years to clear.

This means thousands of survivors and witnesses having to wait even longer for their cases to be heard.

Domestic violence is so common that one in three sheriff court trials centres on this type of abuse.

A new report on domestic abuse laws from the Scottish government and two universities

also says domestic abuse survivors in particular have been left feeling marginalised, ignored and unsafe.

That's despite major legal reforms in 2019 designed to help them.

We're going to hear about the burden of that extra weight. We'll look at some of the so-called

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