Scottish criminal law is unique in having three possible verdicts for a criminal trial: "guilty", "not guilty" and "not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal. The 'not proven' verdict in modern Scots criminal law can be described as an historical accident. Historically, there were no set forms for verdicts used by early juries, and their role was simply to find the guilt or innocence of the accused. The role of the jury changed when it became customary in the Justice Court to compose lengthy indictments, where facts were listed which culminated in a statement of the punishable character
Presumed Guilty: When Cops Get It Wrong and Courts Seal the Deal system en route to wrongful convictions, and extrapolates to the problems identified in the British common-law system in English-speaking countries. Book reviews, including those by individuals with close associations with the criminal justice system, have been favourable. Presumed Guilty: When Cops Get It Wrong and Courts Seal the Deal Presumed Guilty: When Cops get it Wrong and Courts Seal the Deal is a non-fiction book by Bret Christian, a veteran newspaper reporter and publisher based in Perth, Western Australia. It centres on a cluster of wrongful murder convictions in Perth. First published in 2013, a second edition was released in