Juryless rape trial scheme would have been ‘a good thing’, law officer says

The controversial plans for certain rape cases to be tried before a judge were dropped by the Justice Secretary at the end of October, following a backlash from much of the legal profession and a lack of support from many MSPs.

Under the proposed pilot, a single judge or possibly a panel would have provided a verdict in certain rape cases rather than a jury.

It was not expected to take place before the end of 2028 and was one of a number of reforms in the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill.

But Solicitor General Ruth Charteris KC said the scheme could have helped to address low conviction rates in rape cases.

The role of Solicitor General is held by a senior lawyer who becomes a minister in the Scottish Government – acting as deputy to the Lord Advocate – and is accountable to MSPs.

Speaking to Holyrood Magazine, Ms Charteris said she recognised the pilot scheme would not have been a “panacea” to low conviction rates.

While acknowledging the pilot has been cancelled amidst opposition, she said it would have been “a good thing”.

She added: “The conviction rate for rape hovers at about 48 per cent to 51 per cent, but that disguises the fact that in the case of single-complainer, single-accused rapes – often that’s acquaintance rapes – it’s down to as low as 24 per cent.

“That’s against a normal conviction rate of about 88 per cent. We are working hard to address it within the prosecution service.”

Ms Charteris also spoke about women who are jailed, saying they often have a “very complex relationship with abuse”.

She said that as a prosecutor, she finds it “even more difficult” to look at a female accused when in court because she is “conscious of the tragedies, the probably manageable tragedies, that were in her story”.

She added: “It’s a complex picture that impacts on families and one of the areas that really needs looked at is alternatives to incarceration.”

The solicitor general also reflected on how her early life influenced her decision to pursue a legal career, saying she had inherited a sense of public service from her parents.

Ms Charteris also spoke about how as a student she had worked with the Equal Justice Initiative non-profit in Alabama, helping to appeal death penalty cases.

As a member of the Free Church of Scotland, Ms Charteris said her faith gave her an early grasp of core legal concepts.

“Growing up, I might not have heard much about law or lawyers, but I certainly heard a lot about justice and about accountability,” she said.

“Faith is really important to me. Lady Cosgrove, who was the first female judge, came from a Jewish background and she very much spoke about how she could relate to so much of what is pictured in the Bible about justice and ‘justice rolling down like water’”.

The idea of juryless rape trials was intended to tackle the prevalence of “rape myths” among jurors.

When Justice Secretary Angela Constance dropped the proposals, she said it was clear they did not have cross-party support.

The Scottish Solicitors Bar Association described the move as a “humiliating U-turn”.

The Law Society had also opposed the pilot scheme, saying it undermined a “basic right” to trial by jury for serious crimes.

Ms Constance said the government would carry out more detailed research into jury deliberations to try and address the issue of rape myths.