Scrapping not proven verdict will modernise justice system, Constance says

“Historic” legislation that will abolish Scotland’s not proven verdict is about “modernising” the system, Justice Secretary Angela Constance has said.

She rejected suggestions the change is being introduced in a bid to drive up conviction rates in the courts.

Instead, she said: “The purpose of this reform is neither to decrease or increase convictions, it is about modernising our justice system.”

The abolition of the not proven verdict is one of the headline proposals contained in wide-ranging legislation passed by MSPs on Wednesday – with the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill also making changes to the jury system, establishing a specialist sexual offences court, and introducing a Victims’ Commissioner.

But with the Bill also increasing the number of jurors required to support the conviction of an accused person, lawyers have raised concerns there could be more potential for miscarriages of justice.

At present, a person can be found guilty if eight members of a jury of 15 agree this is the correct verdict – but the change will mean at least 10 jurors have to support a conviction.

Stuart Munro, convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s criminal law committee, said it will mean a person can be convicted “despite five members of the jury having significant doubts about their guilt”.

Ms Constance said research by the Scottish Government had shown the changes to the jury system were needed alongside the scrapping of the not proven verdict.

With jurors in future only having two options available to them – guilty or not guilty – instead of guilty, not guilty or not proven at present – she said the Government had “changed the jury majority that is required for conviction”.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Thursday, the Justice Secretary said: “Right now people can be convicted on eight out of 15, what is known as a simple majority.

“With this reform that will increase to a qualified majority of two-thirds, that would be 10 out of 15 to convict.”

She said scrapping the not proven verdict – which, like not guilty, currently results in an accused person being acquitted – is “a long overdue reform that is much required for modernising our justice system”.

She added the change would mean “decision-making is more transparent, clearer and better understood”.

The Justice Secretary said: “Scotland has been very unique in having three verdicts, no other comparable jurisdiction has three verdicts.

“We have three verdicts right now and two are acquittals. And the research on this is extensive, the debate goes back decades.

“The bottom line is that the not proven verdict traumatises victims and families and actually leaves a lingering stigma on the accused.”

Adding there is “no legal definition” of not proven and “no clear understanding” about the verdict, she said: “The purpose of this historic reform is to modernise our system, it is designed to keep balance in our system. Because if our justice system isn’t fair, it doesn’t work for anyone.”

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said he suspected measures had been included in the Government legislation because it had been in the Tory election manifesto in 2021.

Writing in the Scottish Daily Mail newspaper, Mr Findlay said: “Scotland’s not proven verdict is an accident of history and an affront to justice that has caused devastation to far too many crime victims and the families of murder victims.

“Scrapping this centuries-old abomination was a 2021 manifesto pledge of the Scottish Conservatives. I suspect that our position might be why it was incorporated into the SNP’s Bill.”

Despite this, he criticised the legislation, saying it would “tinker, experimentally, with the size of juries and the ratios by which they can reach a verdict”.

Arguing the new law is a “massive missed opportunity”, Mr Findlay claimed: “This is a victims’ law in name only.”