Scotland’s ‘Not Proven’ Verdict Abolished in All New Trials
Scotland has formally abolished the Not Proven verdict in all new criminal trials, bringing an end to one of the most controversial features of Scots law — a legal curiosity that had allowed juries to return a third finding beyond the standard binary of guilty or not guilty for centuries.
The Not Proven verdict occupied a unique position in the Scottish legal system: it had the same legal effect as a not guilty finding, meaning the accused was acquitted and could not be retried on the same charges, but it carried a distinct social stigma by implying that the jury was not entirely satisfied of the accused’s innocence. Critics argued for decades that this ambiguity was deeply unfair, leaving acquitted individuals under a cloud of suspicion without any mechanism to clear their names conclusively.
Advocates of the change, including several victims’ rights groups, had argued that the Not Proven verdict disproportionately appeared in cases involving sexual offences, where jurors were sometimes reluctant to convict on what they considered insufficient evidence but equally unwilling to deliver an unambiguous acquittal. They contended that this pattern effectively punished complainants while providing cover for juries unwilling to confront difficult evidential questions directly.
Defence lawyers and civil liberties organisations had offered a counter-argument, suggesting that the Not Proven option provided an important safety valve allowing juries to express doubt without committing to full acquittal — a mechanism that had, they argued, protected some genuinely innocent defendants from wrongful conviction.
The change was passed by the Scottish Parliament following a lengthy consultation process. In abolishing the verdict, Scotland brings its criminal courts into alignment with England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the majority of European legal systems, which have never operated a three-verdict system. New trials commencing after the legislation’s commencement date will operate under the standard two-option framework.
