‘Proven’ verdict

Published on 12/07/2012 00:00

The solution to the problem of three verdicts (your report, 9 July) is not to drop “not proven” but to keep it and reintroduce the “proven” verdict, losing the guilty/not-guilty verdicts that were introduced from England.

As many miscarriages of justice have shown, juries cannot be sure that a person is actually guilty or innocent.

A jury can only give its opinion as to whether or not, on the evidence, the charge is proven.

Steuart Campbell

Dovecot Loan

Edinburgh

The Scotsman

Opinion

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‘Proven’ verdict

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