London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Humza Yousaf defends rape trial scheme as boycott grows

Humza Yousaf defends rape trial scheme as boycott grows

Humza Yousaf has defended plans to pilot juryless rape trials after lawyers in Aberdeen joined a boycott.

They have accused the Scottish government of a "deeply troubling attack" on the judicial system.

Lawyers in Glasgow and Edinburgh have already said they will refuse to take part in the pilot, which was proposed as part of a new justice reform bill.

The government has said there is "overwhelming evidence" juries are affected by preconceptions about rape.

The change to trials was proposed by Scotland's second most senior judge, Lady Dorrian, in a review that informed the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance has claimed that low conviction rates for rape and attempted rape are hampered by the "prevalence of preconceptions".

In the most recent figures, conviction rates for rape and attempted rape were 51%, compared with 91% for all other crimes.

After the Aberdeen Bar Association confirmed it was joining the boycott, Mr Yousaf said he heard their objections "loud and clear".

But he said he remained "absolutely committed" to working with legal professionals on the pilot because convictions for rape are "far too low" compared to other offences.

The first minister said: "We know through the weight of evidence that exists just how many rape myths, rape misconceptions, stereotypes exist.

"That's not in the interest of justice.

"We're talking about a time-limited pilot and I hope that legal professionals that have said they'll boycott will work with us and reconsider that boycott."

Lawyers in Aberdeen have followed colleagues in Glasgow and Edinburgh in vowing to oppose the scheme


The SNP leader said more than 80% of trials already took place without a jury.

Statistics for 2019-20 show 16% of criminal cases were heard by a jury, while 84% were less serious, or summary, cases which were dealt with by a justice of the peace or a sheriff.

Aberdeen Bar Association vice president Ian Woodward-Nutt told BBC Scotland it was "very hard to see how this will proceed" without lawyers agreeing to participate in the pilot.

"Criminal defence lawyers across Scotland will not allow their clients to become guinea pigs in a scheme where the starting point of the scheme is to engineer verdicts to bring about more convictions," Mr Woodward-Nutt said.

He took issue with proposals for public reviews of decisions made by trial judges taking part in the scheme.


'Deeply troubling attack'


The lawyer said: "Never before have decisions at the Scottish criminal courts been subjected to this type of review by the executive.

"So it's clear and it will be clear to any impartial observer that this proposed pilot amounts to a deeply troubling attack, both on the criminal justice system, but also on the independence of our judiciary."

Mr Woodward-Nutt argued juryless trials would lead to a loss of safeguards.

"The Scottish government are proposing an experimental scheme that replaces juries with a specific named trial judge who will, we feel inevitably, be subjected to public scrutiny and thus pressure relative to his or her decision making," he said.

"That cannot be fair, that cannot be appropriate."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
×