Sturgeon U-turn on ‘not proven’ verdict amid low conviction rates

NICOLA Sturgeon has indicated she is willing to perform a U-turn and scrap the ‘not proven’ verdict.

The First Minister said the time had come for a review to drive up ‘shamefully low’ conviction rates for rape and sexual offences.

The Scottish Tories and Rape Crisis Scotland have led calls to scrap the distinct ‘third verdict’.

But in 14 years in power, including five as First Minister, Ms Sturgeon has always resisted.

In Scotland, juries can return one of three verdicts – guilty, not guilty and not proven – compared with two verdicts south of the Border.

But speaking to PA Scotland, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘I do think it is time to look at the not proven verdict.’ Having studied law at Glasgow University, she said it had been ‘imprinted on my brain’ that the ‘three totemic things’ that make Scots Law distinctive were the not proven verdict, the need for corroboration in trials with evidence coming from more than one source, and that 15 people are needed to make up a jury.

In the past, she said, ‘maybe I have had a bit of a lawyers’ view’ of the not proven verdict’.

But she added: ‘The conviction rate for rape and sexual assault is shamefully low. And I think there is mounting evidence and increasingly strong arguments that the not proven verdict is a part of that.

‘So I think it is something that it is time to look at.’

Last night, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: ‘The SNP finally seem to be willing to listen.

‘This verdict has no place in a modern justice system. We know from victims of crime that it causes both confusion and distress.

‘After 14 years in power, we don’t need some more warm words from Nicola Sturgeon. We need the SNP to fully U-turn and commit to abolishing this verdict.’