Victim organisations call for judge-only solemn trials

Four victim support organisations in Scotland have come out against the proposals favoured by the Law Society of Scotland as the way to avoid solemn trials taking place without a jury in order to deal with the backlog of cases caused by the coronavirus shutdown. published a joint open letter calling for MSPs to re-consider .

In a joint open letter to MSPs, Victim Support Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and ASSIST call for the decision to not allow jury-free trials to go ahead to be reconsidered.

Provisions that would have enabled such trials were withdrawn from the Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill following concerted opposition from the legal profession, supported by many opposition MSPs.

The proposal remains one of the options put forward by the Scottish Government in its consultation paper on the subject, though it states that it is no longer its preferred course. A working group organised by the Law Society of Scotland, with representation from advocates, judges and others, is suggesting that jury trials can be organised for larger courtrooms with juries reduced from 15 members to seven (click here for report).

The four leading victim organisations warn that blocking jury-free trials will create an unnecessary backlog of cases going to trial, causing a "damaging and lasting impact" on "some of Scotland’s most vulnerable victims and witnesses".

Their letter raises further concerns that smaller juries would increase the risk of mistrial due to illness and would have a detrimental impact on victims and witnesses of having to make repeat court visits.

Co-author of the letter, Kate Wallace, chief executive of Victim Support Scotland commented: "Mistrials have a devastating impact on victims as they are required to repeatedly relive their trauma before a court. This can be worse than a trial not taking place. Proposals to reduce jury sizes make mistrial as a result of juror illness more likely, especially while the risk of contracting COVID-19 remains so high.

"Measures to permit jury-less trials may have been prematurely dismissed. Judge-only trials are already being used in domestic abuse cases, and far from eroding a 600-year-old 'cornerstone' of the Scottish legal system, this has allowed thousands of serious cases to be heard in Scotland without a jury present.

"Along with Scottish Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Scotland and ASSIST, Victim Support Scotland are calling on Members of the Scottish Parliament to fully consider all proposals that will reduce the impact of delays caused by coronavirus on people affected by serious crime."

Click here to view the letter.