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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent

Scottish parliament to vote on scrapping legal verdict of not proven

A view of the Scottish parliament building in Holyrood, Edinburgh: it is seen across a lake with the building reflected in the water; the sky is pale grey and almost white with cloud. The building itself is pale and modern with a glass canopy at the front and small green trees along the walkway by the waterside
The government at Holyrood will vote on Tuesday on Scotland’s most radical shake-up of criminal justice in decades. Photograph: Lesley Martin/Reuters

The unique Scottish verdict of not proven, long considered a global legal anomaly, could be scrapped this week as the Holyrood parliament votes on the country’s most radical shake-up of criminal justice in decades.

Scotland is the only country in the world to offer juries the not proven verdict alongside guilty and not guilty, a poorly defined historical oddity that dates back to the 18th century.

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