Abolition of not proven verdict an 'essential' reform
Among its provisions are the abolition of the not proven verdict - which is unique to Scotland - and the establishment of a dedicated court specialising in sexual offences.
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Writing in The Herald today, Ms Wallace described the not proven verdict as a 'relic of Scottish criminal law that has confused juries and denied justice to victims'.
She added: "Victim Support Scotland welcomes this potential step forward and urges our political leaders to see the removal of this verdict not just as a legislative change, but as a necessity for modern justice.
"Scotland is the only country in the world to have the 'not proven' verdict alongside 'guilty' and 'not guilty'. But unlike its counterparts, 'not proven' has no official legal definition – a bizarre fact that I've found most people are shocked to discover.... To the average person, the lack of definition of 'not proven' creates a feeling of uncertainty about how exactly it should be used in a trial.
"Jurors are offered no specific guidance on how to return this verdict, only being told that it provides the same acquittal as not guilty - leaving it wide open for misinterpretation."
She went on to say that when juries return a not proven verdict, the accused is acquitted though a "shadow of suspicion' can still hang over them while victims are often left with the feeling that their experience has been denied.
"It offers no closure, clarity, or comfort. Instead, it leaves open-ended questions and deep emotional scars. For the accused, we are told, it can cast a shadow of suspicion over them for the rest of their lives that they feel unable to address," she said.
Ms Wallace also pointed out that cases of rape and attempted rape resulted in a not proven' acquittal than in trials for other types of crime.
She stated: "In 2019/20, 44% of acquittals were not proven, compared to 20% across all crimes and offences. One of the most prominent cases involved Miss M, who won a landmark civil case against Andrew Coxen for rape after he was found not proven in a criminal trial.
"Not proven has also been contentious in murder trials. After the killing of Amanda Duffy in 1992, Francis Auld, the man accused of murdering her, was given a not proven verdict.
"The Duffy family later won a civil case against him, with a judge awarding them £50,000 in damages after finding him responsible for her death. However, the Duffy family never received any of this award. The Duffy family, like Miss M, have since been passionate campaigners for change in this area."
She added: "Abolishing the not proven verdict is not a radical departure for Scotland's legal system – it is an essential reform that brings us in line with international standards and modern principles of justice.
"It will improve the clarity of decision-making for juries, ensuring that verdicts are understood by all. It will also help victims better comprehend the outcome of trials and provide a sense of closure.
"Crucially, it might help to increase the paltry levels of public trust in Scotland's legal system. The latest Scottish Crime and Justice Survey revealed that only 36% of people are confident that the criminal justice system gives sentences which fit the crime. This is down significantly, from 41% in 2021/22."
MSPs on the criminal justice committee backed the abolition of the not proven verdict.
They said in a report in March: 'On the balance of evidence, having heard arguments for and against, we believe the not-proven verdict has had its day and should be abolished.'
They added that they did not think it was satisfactory to have a verdict in a criminal trial that had no accepted legal definition.
The committee rejected plans to alter the size of juries or the required majority.
At present 15 people sit on a Scottish jury and a simple majority of eight is required for a conviction. The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill proposes a smaller jury of 12 and a two-thirds majority for a guilty verdict, but the MSPs concluded that there was no compelling evidence to support the change.
The Scottish Government had originally included in the bill a plan to run a pilot scheme to hear rape trials in front of a single judge or a panel of judges, rather than by a jury. But the proposal was dropped after opposition from lawyers.
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