‘Not proven’ on trial in second round of Dewar Debate

Scotland’s historic three verdicts system has itself gone on trial during the second round of this year’s Donald Dewar Memorial Debate Tournament, with pupils from 16 schools progressing to the semi-finals.

Round two of the contest – which was contested across eight venues by teams coming from as far north as Thurso – wrapped up on Thursday evening, 26 January.

Contestants debated the motion, The house would abolish the ‘not proven’ verdict in Scottish courts.

Georgia Turnbull, Careers and Outreach Coordinator at the Law Society of Scotland, said: “Our judges were enormously impressed as always with the skills, intelligence and quick thinking shown by the pupils competing. Some really strong teams have been knocked out, showing how competitive this tournament is.

“Once again the motion debated was a topical one, given the Scottish Government’s plans to bring forward a Criminal Justice Reform Bill in the Scottish Parliament this year to abolish the so-called third verdict that’s unique to our justice system.

“The competing teams did an excellent job identifying the strongest arguments for their side of the debate, and any potential weaknesses in the points being made by their opponents.”

The next round of the tournament, when pupils will debate a new motion unseen until an hour before, will be held on 9 March.

This year is the 24th edition of the tournament. It is named in honour of the late Donald Dewar, who was the inaugural First Minister for Scotland when the Scottish Parliament was re-established in 1999.