SNP minister insists controversial Not Proven verdict has no place in modern Scots justice system

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The controversial Not Proven verdict will be scrapped as it has no place in a modern Scots justice system, an SNP minister has said.Angela Constance acknowledged it has taken a “long time” for the legislation on scrapping the controversial third verdict to be introduced at Holyrood.The Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill will also change the size of criminal juries from 15 to 12.It aims to address a number of issues around serious sexual offences, creating a new specialist sexual offences court.Ministers will also have the power to carry out a pilot of rape trials being conducted by a single judge without a jury.For jury trials, the majority needed for a guilty verdict will be at least two-thirds.Debates around Scotland’s third verdict, which has the legal effect of acquitting the accused, have been going on for years.The verdict is unique to Scots law and there is no equivalent in other jurisdictions.Constance and First Minister Humza Yousaf met a number of prominent victims of crime, campaigners and organisations at a summit on Wednesday.The Justice Secretary said: “This Bill is about ensuring that the voices and needs of victims are at the heart of our justice system.“There is substantial evidence that the not proven verdict in many instances retraumatises victims and survivors because of its lack of clarity.“While we are proud of our justice system in Scotland, we do need to make sure that our system reflects the needs of modern-day Scotland and I don’t think it is defensible any longer to have a not proven verdict where there is no statutory definition.”Constance continued: “It has taken a long time to get to this point.