Scotland abolishes not proven verdict in landmark justice reform
MSPs approve Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill, ending centuries of a three-verdict system and raising the bar for convictions; supporters say it centers victims, while critics warn of unintended consequences.
The Scottish Parliament on Wednesday approved the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, delivering a long-sought change to Scots law by abolishing the centuries-old not proven verdict. The measure replaces the three-verdict system with a binary guilty-or-not guilty verdict for criminal trials and raises the jury standard for a conviction to a two-thirds majority. MSPs backed the legislation by 71 votes to 46, setting the stage for the bill to become law after a final stage 3 vote in Holyrood.
The package also overhauls several aspects of the criminal justice system, including the creation of a new sexual offences court and a Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland. It represents one of the most radical overhauls since devolution and is designed to place victims and witnesses at the heart of proceedings while safeguarding the rights of the accused. A pilot of juryless rape trials had previously faced opposition, and the bill also scrapped proposals to shrink the jury from 15 to 12, after debate.
Victims and supporters welcomed the reform as a turning point. Campaigner Stewart Handling, whose 13-year-old daughter Grace died after taking ecstasy and whose killer was acquitted under a not proven verdict, said the vote would spare other families the ambiguity and stigma associated with the verdict. Amanda Duffy, whose killer Francis Auld was not proven in a 1992 case and later died in 2017 after a civil suit blamed him for her death, said the change would bring a sense of clarity to victims’ families. Joe Duffy, Amanda’s father, described the not proven verdict as a middle ground that should never have existed and said the historic vote felt like a step toward justice for many families.
The reform drew swift pushback from parts of the legal sector. The Law Society of Scotland warned that moving to a two-thirds requirement for a guilty verdict could undermine existing safeguards and potentially increase miscarriages of justice if not properly balanced. Stuart Munro, convener of the Society’s criminal law committee, emphasized that the system’s integrity must be preserved and that the balance between speed, fairness and accuracy demands careful safeguards. He noted the Society’s position that the two-thirds threshold may not deliver the desired certainty without further adjustments.
Politically, the bill’s passage reflected broad cross-party support for victim-centric reforms, albeit amid controversy. Proponents from the SNP, Greens, Liberal Democrats and Alba supported the bill, while Labour and Conservative MSPs largely opposed it, arguing that changes should be grounded in solid evidence and expert guidance. Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson Liam Kerr condemned moves to alter a system that has functioned for more than two centuries without a robust, evidence-based foundation. He warned that sweeping changes could lower conviction rates, increase wrongful outcomes and harm victims—claims that supporters rejected as alarmist but which reverberated through final debates.
As debate concluded, some victims’ advocates argued the bill did not go far enough on related issues. Critics pointed to other amendments that were rejected, such as provisions to toughen parole considerations or to address child grooming networks in Scotland. Campaigner Hannah Stakes, who pressed for scrapping the not proven verdict after her own experience as part of a rape case, said abolishing the verdict would provide a clearer path to resolution for victims and survivors. Kate Wallace, chief executive of Victim Support Scotland, welcomed the broader reform as a meaningful shift toward a system that prioritizes victims and witnesses while strengthening accountability for offenders.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance said the legislation marks a turning point in Scotland’s criminal justice system by placing victims and witnesses at the center of reform. She stressed that the changes would be implemented with safeguards to protect the rights of the accused and that the bill had been shaped by the testimonies of those affected by crime and by support organizations. The bill’s final passage in the chamber comes after years of campaigning by victim groups and marks a defined move toward a more modern, compassionate approach to justice in Scotland.