Solicitors Consider Boycotting Proposed No-Jury Rape Trials in Scotland
The Scottish Solicitors Bar Association has rejected plans by the government in Edinburgh to introduce trials without juries in rape cases.
The professional body representing solicitors north of the border, the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA), has voiced opposition against the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce trials without juries in rape cases. It has declared that its members will boycott them. The vice president of SSBA, Simon Brown, expressed his concerns about the proposals during a hearing at a Holyrood committee, stating that the plans were “experimenting with people’s lives.”
The Scottish Government presented legislation last year that would permit a pilot scheme with judges only presiding in rape cases, as well as eliminating the “not proven” verdict available to juries in Scotland. These changes were proposed in response to the efforts of women advocating for an increase in the number of convictions in rape cases.
Giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee, Mr. Brown raised concerns about potential unconscious bias towards convictions, suggesting that the success of the pilot may only be measured by an increase in conviction rates, indicating a partiality toward conviction.
In England and Scotland, juries have been a significant component of the legal system for centuries. Whether a rape defendant would have the right to challenge the removal of a jury in their case at the UK Supreme Court is not entirely clear.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance has emphasized that the reforms were crafted following consultations with rape survivors, victims, and their families, with the goal of making Scottish courts more sensitive and less traumatic.
Mr. Brown further expressed that lawyers could not be compelled to take part in the pilot scheme, and more than 97 percent of the 400 SSBA members opposed the no-jury pilot, citing the fundamental change it would bring to the Scottish legal system.
Last year, Michael Naughton, a professor at the University of Bristol Law School, warned that the right to a fair trial in rape cases was being gradually eroded due to a feminist lobby pushing a narrative that too many guilty men were not being charged.
PA Media contributed to this report.
