Policy Insights: Beyond doubt - The case against ‘Not Proven’
Published: 19 September 2025
19 September 2025: In a new Policy Insights piece, Professors James Chalmers, Fiona Leverick, and Vanessa Munro explore the argument they made for abolishing the 'Not Proven' verdict in 2021 - after the Scottish Parliament passed the Bill this week that will abolish it - and crucially what happens next.
19 September 2025: In a new Policy Insights piece, Professors James Chalmers, Fiona Leverick, and Vanessa Munro explore the argument they made for abolishing the 'Not Proven' verdict in 2021 - after the Scottish Parliament passed the Bill this week that will abolish it - and crucially what happens next.
This week, the Scottish Parliament passed the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, which will abolish the ‘Not Proven’ verdict, a third verdict unique to criminal cases in Scotland.
In a new Policy Insights piece for the Centre for Public Policy, Professor James Chalmers and Professor Fiona Leverick from the University of Glasgow, and Professor Vanessa Munro from the University of Warwick write about the argument they made in 2021 to abolish the verdict.
Read Beyond doubt: The case against 'Not Proven' on our Outputs page
The Centre for Public Policy’s ‘Policy Insights’ series gets into the detail of policy challenges facing Scotland, the UK and international communities, taking a longer-form approach compared to our regular blogs series.
It allows academic researchers from the University of Glasgow and beyond the opportunity and flexibility to provide more in-depth analysis into nuanced and multi-layered policy issues, offering solutions and ways forward.
First published: 19 September 2025