Scottish Criminal Evidence Law Current Developments and Future Trends

Analyses the recent, sweeping changes to Scottish criminal evidence law and what they entail

Scottish criminal evidence law has recently undergone major, primarily reactive changes, with more reform on the way. These ad hoc developments are fundamentally altering the basic principles of Scottish criminal evidence which have been in place since the 19th century. This book gathers leading experts in the field to analyse these changes, discern any patterns and ask what the ramifications are for the future of Scottish criminal evidence law.

The areas affected include: police questioning of suspects, the treatment of vulnerable witnesses in court, hearsay, the admissibility of the accused's previous convictions, the Crown's duty of disclosure and the need for corroboration.

Peter Duff is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Aberdeen School of Law. He is contributing author to: Victims in the Criminal Justice System, The Jury Under Attack, Criminal Injuries Compensation, Juries: A Hong Kong Perspective and Criminal Justice in Scotland. He has also published in the following journals: Juridical Review, Edinburgh Law Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Modern Law Review, Criminal Law Review, British Journal of Criminology and Scots Law Times. In 1999, he was appointed as one of the first members of the new Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates alleged miscarriages of justice, and was a Commissioner until 2007. He was also a member of the McInnes Committee on Summary Criminal Justice, which sat in 2002-2003.

Pamela Ferguson is Professor of Scots Law at the University of Dundee. She is author of Scots Criminal Law, 2nd edition (Edinburgh University Press, 2014).