Concerns remain as new era begins with not proven abolition

The Law Society of Scotland continues to hold significant concerns about the impact of removing the not proven verdict from Scottish criminal trials, just days before the abolition comes into effect.

The Scottish Government has finalised regulations to enact the not proven abolition and related changes to jury majorities for criminal trials from 1 January 2026.

Guilty and not guilty will be the only verdicts available for any case where the indictment has not been read to the jury before this date, or for summary matters where the first witness has not sworn.

At the same time, a simple majority will no longer be sufficient to secure a conviction, with two-thirds of jurors to be required to find an accused person guilty.

Both changes come from the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act which was approved by the Scottish Parliament earlier this year.

Stuart Munro, the Convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s Criminal Law Committee, said: “The New Year will bring one of the most significant shifts to Scotland’s criminal justice system in living memory. We are working to ensure criminal law practitioners are prepared for these changes.

“We argued strongly for the not proven verdict to be retained as a proven and longstanding safeguard against miscarriages of justice in Scotland, and will be closely monitoring whether these new arrangements strike the right balance to achieve just outcomes.

“The increased majority for a conviction has been introduced in response to the concerns raised by us and by others, however the threshold remains significantly less than the unanimity or near unanimity mandated in similar jurisdictions such as England and Wales.

“We remain supportive of numerous other measures in this legislation, and will wait for further news on when these changes will be enacted.”