{"id":431986,"date":"2025-09-17T20:26:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T20:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/431986\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T20:26:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T20:26:12","slug":"rape-survivor-welcomes-holyrood-vote-to-scrap-damaging-not-proven-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/431986\/","title":{"rendered":"Rape survivor welcomes Holyrood vote to scrap \u2018damaging\u2019 not proven verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rape survivor has welcomed new legislation to scrap Scotland\u2019s \u201cdamaging\u201d not proven verdict being passed \u2013 saying the move has given survivors \u201cback their voice\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miss M, who has campaigned for the abolition of the controversial verdict alongside Rape Crisis Scotland, welcomed the change at the same time as lawyers warned there could be \u201cincreased potential for miscarriages of justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Law Society of\u00a0Scotland said it was \u201cdisappointed\u201d that \u201cserious concerns\u201d it had were \u201cnot reflected in the final legislation approved by MSPs\u201d.<\/p>\n

The comments came as Holyrood approved wide-ranging changes to Scotland\u2019s justice system when they passed\u00a0the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill.<\/p>\n

As well as scrapping the not proven verdict, the Bill will mean in the future at least two-thirds of jurors will be needed for an accused person to be convicted \u2013 instead of a simple majority of the jury at present.<\/p>\n

Stuart Munro, convener of the Law Society\u2019s criminal law committee, said they were now \u201capprehensive for the increased potential for miscarriages of justice as a result of changes not backed by research or experience elsewhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe fundamental purpose of any criminal justice system is to convict the guilty and acquit the innocent. We\u2019re moving from a system with a proven track record of achieving that outcome to one which is entirely untested and does not exist in any equivalent legal system anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that no other jurisdiction operates a three-verdict model is commonly given as a reason for proposing its abolition, but we have significant concerns about following other systems in one respect, but not in terms of the jury majority required for a conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery legal system with a two-verdict system requires a unanimous or near unanimous jury to convict, whereas Scotland will now have a system where a person can be convicted despite five members of the jury having significant doubts about their guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miss M, who saw a not proven verdict returned against the man accused of raping her in a trial 10 years ago, welcomed the reforms.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cTo know that another rape victim isn\u2019t going to experience what I had to go through after my criminal trial ended is the very reason I\u2019ve invested so much time and energy into this campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the removal of the not proven verdict has given survivors and their families back their voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have all spoken up about how damaging this verdict is. Today we have been listened to and the improvements to the legal system are going to make it fairer and clearer going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman added: \u201cWhen I started this campaign to remove the not proven verdict alongside Rape Crisis Scotland, the dream was just not to remove the not proven verdict, but to highlight how misunderstood and damaging it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MissPA MediaMiss M campaigned for the not proven verdict to be scrapped after the verdict was returned against the man accused of raping her. PA Media<\/p>\n

Just under half (48%) of rape and attempted rape cases in 2022-23 resulted in a conviction \u2013 with Rape Crisis Scotland noting this was below the overall conviction rate of 88%.<\/p>\n

Not proven verdicts were returned in 61% of rape and attempted rape cases that year where the accused was acquitted, compared to an overall rate of 22% for all criminal cases, the charity added.<\/p>\n

Rape Crisis Scotland chief executive Sandy Brindley praised Miss M and others who have \u201ccampaigned tirelessly to remove the not proven verdict\u201d.<\/p>\n

Claiming survivors and others have been \u201clet down by not proven\u201d, she described it as being a \u201cverdict that was impossible to define, confused jurors and the wider public\u201d, and which also \u201cprevented closure for victims\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Brindley welcomed the creation of a new sexual offences court in the legislation, saying she hoped it will \u201cstreamline the management of sexual offences, reduce trauma for survivors of sexual violence, and help cut the unnecessary delays in the court system\u201d<\/p>\n

She added while there are \u201cmany positive steps\u201d in the Bill, Rape Crisis Scotland has \u201cserious concerns about the increase to the jury majority and the negative effect that this will almost certainly have on rape and sexual offence cases\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Brindley said: \u201cConviction rates are already terrifyingly low and many police reports don\u2019t make it to court. Meanwhile, research shows a reluctance to convict rape cases and deep-rooted prejudices around sexual violence affect public attitudes and jury decision-making every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn increased jury majority will undoubtedly make survivors\u2019 fight for justice even harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rape survivor has welcomed new legislation to scrap Scotland\u2019s \u201cdamaging\u201d not proven verdict being passed \u2013 saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-431986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115221521102897610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}