The Scottish Parliament’s
Justice Committee is seeking views on the general principles of the Criminal
Verdicts (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced by Michael McMahon MSP on 27
November 2013. A copy of the Bill can be found via the following link:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_Bills/Criminal%20Verdicts%20Bill/b42s4-introd.pdf.pdf
The Bill would remove the
“not proven” verdict as one of the available verdicts in criminal proceedings
and require an increased majority of jurors for a guilty verdict.
The Policy Memorandum
explains that the policy on removing the not proven verdict is founded on the
principle that accused persons are innocent until proved guilty and, as such,
are entitled to a straightforward and unqualified acquittal where the
prosecution case against them cannot be established beyond reasonable doubt. It
goes on to state that, although an acquittal, whether not guilty or not proven,
has the same effect, there is “a widely held view that the person given a
verdict of not proven is unfairly stigmatised, particularly as they have no
right to a retrial or appeal in order to clear their name.
The Bill would retain the
jury size of 15 but move to a qualified majority of at least two-thirds of the
jury being required to convict.
Further
details on the Bill are contained in the Policy Memorandum and Explanatory
Notes.
Format of written submissions
The
Justice Committee invites all interested organisations and individuals to
submit written evidence on the Bill no later than 5pm on Tuesday 5 January
2016.
Before
you draft a submission, please read the Parliament’s policy
on the treatment of written evidence by subject and mandatory committees. Please also ensure
that your submission:
- is concise,
preferably no longer than 4 sides of A4 (longer submissions should include
an opening summary)
- is set out in
numbered paragraphs
- includes
hyperlinks or full citations when you are referring to existing published
material (this is preferable to quoting extensive extracts)
- is provided
electronically in word processing format (e.g. Microsoft Word or Apple
pages) wherever possible.
Your
submission will be published on the Committee webpages. However, if you would
prefer your evidence to be treated confidentially, please contact the justice
clerks (at the contact details below) before submitting your evidence. It is
for the Committee to take any decision on whether to accept a submission on the
basis that it will not be published (although it would be seen in full by the
Committee). The Parliament is however required to consider requests for
information under freedom of information legislation and we therefore cannot
guarantee that the evidence will never be released.
Submit
your evidence:
by email to:
[email protected]
Or in hard copy to: Justice Committee Clerks
Room
T2.60, The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, EH99 1SP
If
you have any queries about written submissions, please contact the justice
clerks on 0131 348 5047 or at the contact details above.