Sturgeon joins calls to review use of ‘not proven’ verdict

SCOTLAND should look at whether to retain its controversial “not proven” verdict, Nicola Sturgeon has said, as part of efforts to tackle the “shamefully low” conviction rates for rape and sexual assault.

The verdict, which is unique to the Scottish justice system, is one of three possible verdicts alongside guilty and not guilty, with the accused being acquitted and innocent in the eyes of the law under not proven.

Both the Scottish Tories and Greens have pledged to abolish the “archaic” and “unfair” verdict as the Scottish election campaign gets well under way.

Latest figures show that fewer than half – 47 per cent – of attempted rape and rape trials in Scotland result in a conviction, while more than one in five result in a not proven verdict.

Research in 2019 also found that the availability of the verdict may push more jurors towards acquittal before they have even discussed the evidence.

Not proven is seen by some as offering additional protection to the accused, while critics argue that it is confusing for juries and can stigmatise an accused person by appearing not to clear them.

At his criminal trial last year, former first minister Alex Salmond was acquitted of all 13 charges after a jury found him not guilty of 12 charges of attempted rape, sexual assault and indecent assault, and came to the verdict of not proven on one charge of sexual assault with intent to rape.

Nicola Sturgeon, who trained as a lawyer, revealed she has changed her mind on the issue. She said: “I do think it is time to look at the not proven verdict.” Recalling when she 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 there are 15 people needed to make up a jury.

In the past, Ms Sturgeon said that “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.”

Ms Sturgeon’s intervention comes amid calls to scrap the verdict from campaigners and other political parties.

MSPs voted in February 2016 to reject an earlier bid to abolish the not proven verdict.

A recent review into how Scotland’s justice system treats rape cases recommended the setting up of a specialist court to deal with serious sexual offences. The review suggests that cases could be heard by a single judge and without a jury.