Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

this does not entail that the state should be bound to provide its citizens with universal,free and limitless access to lawyers. Nevertheless the system for which it isresponsible must respect, promote and protect human rights in an effective manner.As well as ensuring the proper treatment of those suspected of having committed acrime, it must protect the rights of all those affected or potentially affected by crime.It is with these basic ideas in mind that the Review has addressed its task. That iswhy, as was promised in the consultation document, the opportunity has been taken toexplore the possibility of introducing radical changes to some of the fundamentalprecepts and principles of the criminal justice system, rather than merely affirming ordenying whether the emergency legislation was, and is, effective. A year-long reviewcannot address every issue in detail; but the Review has been able to cover muchground. In this context, I would like to thank the members of the Reference Group fortheir invaluable advice. In both the plenary sessions, and especially in the focused“mini-meetings”, the Review has been able to explore and test options for change insome detail. This has been a key part in the development of this report. I would alsopay tribute to the efforts of the Review’s own small team in organising the process ofreview, considering the many papers involved in that task, assisting the researchprogrammes and ultimately seeing that all of the Review’s ideas and conclusions areexpressed in what is hopefully a readable and easily understood final report.I would also like to thank the many people who have given the Review the benefit oftheir expertise in, and experience of, other jurisdictions. This applies particularly tothose who assisted the Review in Dublin, London, Manchester, Birmingham andOxford, and those from Europe and the Commonwealth with whom the Review was3