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Bill to end court case corroboration | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Proposals to end the centuries-old requirement for corroboration in court cases have been brought forward by the Scottish government. | |
Corroboration - the need for evidence in criminal trials to come from two sources - could be abolished by the new Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill. | |
It would also introduce safeguards such as increasing the number of jurors required for a majority guilty verdict. | |
This would go up from eight of the 15 jurors to 10. | |
The move is likely to be opposed by the legal profession, including judges. | The move is likely to be opposed by the legal profession, including judges. |
In a wide-ranging review of Scots law and practice, leading judge Lord Carloway recommended dropping the general requirement for corroboration in court cases. | In a wide-ranging review of Scots law and practice, leading judge Lord Carloway recommended dropping the general requirement for corroboration in court cases. |
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "I have made clear a number of times that I believe that the requirement for corroboration should be abolished as it can represent a barrier to justice. | |
"It is an outdated rule which can deny victims the opportunity to see those responsible for serious crimes being brought to justice. | |
"Removing the need for corroboration represents a move towards focusing on the quality of evidence rather than quantity." | |
However, the Law Society of Scotland described corroboration as a "fundamental principle" of the justice system. | |
Removing it would lead to a greater risk of miscarriages of justice, it said. | |
Raymond McMenamin, from the society's criminal law committee, said: "We believe that removing the requirement for corroborated evidence, without including sufficiently strong safeguards in the bill, could simply result in a contest between two competing statements on oath and, as a result, bring increased risk of miscarriages of justice. | |
"The requirement for corroborated evidence is not an antiquated, outmoded legal notion but is a fundamental principle of our justice system. | |
"It's clear that the concerns expressed by the society and others about juries have been recognised as the bill proposes a move to a weighted majority from a simple majority, but we don't believe this is sufficient to remove the risks created by abolishing corroboration." | |
Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell, who practised as an advocate depute for several years in Scotland's High Court, also warned against the changes. | |
"If the SNP proceed with these proposals, it will confirm that they are not fit to have the stewardship of Scottish criminal law," he said. | |
"This is populism at its worst. Corroboration is an essential component of the presumption of innocence and a necessary bulwark against false accusation and injustice. | |
"As the power of the state increases, the protection of the rights of the citizen has become even more important." |