Establishing a miscarriage of justice in Scotland : An analysis of 100 recent appeals against criminal conviction.

Peer reviewe

Regulating Consensual Sexual Behaviour Between Older Children : The Case Against the Current Approach under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009

Peer reviewedPostprin

AB v HM Advocate: Rationalising Restrictions on the Use of the "Reasonable Belief" Defence

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Post-Conviction Review : Questions of Innocence, Independence, and Necessity

STETSON LAW REVIEW, VOLUME 47, FALL 2017, NUMBER 1Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Appeal Court at 20 Years : Relationship Status – It’s Complicated?

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‘Gold Standard' Legislation for Adults Only : Reconceptualising Children as ‘Adjoined Victims' Under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018

open access via sage agreement Acknowledgements The authors are very grateful to colleagues and the anonymous peer reviewers who offered insightful feedback on this article prior to publication. Any errors remain our own. Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The jury is an inappropriate decision-making body in rape trials in Scotland: Not Guilty, Not Proven, Guilty?

This thesis reviews the influence of prejudicial social attitudes on jury decision-making in rape trials, and considers whether the verdict in rape cases should continue to be determined by a jury in Scotland. Rape law reform is recognised internationally as having had limited impact to date, in terms of either improving the low conviction rates for rape or reducing the systematic re-victimisation of adult female complainers. This issue is discussed within the context of negative social attitudes about rape and rape victims, and the contribution of these to the gap between law and practice in rape cases. The potential influence of different types of prejudicial social attitudes on juror decision-making in rape trials is considered in depth, including the extent to which these may negatively impact on the outcome of trials. The likely interaction between juror attitudes and the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 means that the influence of prejudicial attitudes in the jury may largely nullify the progressive intentions of this legislation. Potential measures to counter these negative social attitudes about rape are considered. However, it is argued that the deliberative process is an inadequate safeguard against prejudicial decision-making and that other measures, such as juror education, may be of limited efficacy. This thesis concludes that lay participation should be removed from the decision-making process in rape trials and replaced by a specialised judge based system. This outcome would be in line with the institutional responsibility of the criminal justice system to ensure the objective delivery of the law in practice, and that the cost to the complainer of pursing justice is not re-victimisation

Improving the statutory regulation of consensual sexual behaviour between adolescents in Scotland

This thesis examines the extent to which the criminal law is a suitable tool for the regulation of the sexual behaviour of ‘older children’ and identifies the most appropriate approach for that involvement to take. The research takes place in the context of the current approach in Scotland, whereby all consensual sexual intercourse and oro-genital sexual activity between two ‘older children’, defined as those aged 13 to 15, is criminalised under section 37 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009. The nature of this legislation is described in detail in Part One of the thesis, and then contextualised against the relatively widespread occurrence of these activities amongst older children and the very limited number of prosecutions under the provision in practice. The question of whether, on balance, the current approach is appropriate is addressed over Parts Two and Three of the thesis. In making this assessment, the thesis integrates relevant public health research and aspects of research into adolescent psychology and neurological development, with the principles that should normatively inform criminalisation decisions and doctrinal legal discussions. Overall, it is argued that, while there are good public policy reasons to encourage older children to delay engaging in sexual intercourse and oro-genital sexual activity, the current blanket approach taken by the criminal law in Scotland is overly broad. Part Four of the thesis makes an extensive comparative analysis of the legal approaches taken to consensual adolescent sexual intercourse in other common law jurisdictions, to identify possible approaches that Scotland might follow in preference to the current law. These approaches are drawn upon to advocate a more refined approach in the substantive law in Scotland that criminalises consensual sexual intercourse and oro-genital sexual activity involving older children only where there is a substantial age difference between the participants or where there is otherwise evidence of exploitation. The thesis argues that the refined approach would safeguard adolescents against exploitation without automatically criminalising significant numbers of adolescents for their consensual sexual behaviour