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An appeal against conviction and sentence by a man convicted of indecent practices against young boys in the Hawick area between 1993 and 2011 has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary. Appellant DW was convicted of two counts of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices, one at common law and

As is my wont, I will try to avoid ambiguity – the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill is, in part, dangerous and not just because some of the drafting is appalling. I will not comment on the whole bill but on a few aspects.I am not suggesting that there is no roo

The Scottish Sentencing Council has recently produced a report advocating shorter prison sentences even for some serious offences. There would be more emphasis on community-based disposals, such as community payback orders which used to be called community service orders. The report suggest the poss

Here is your starter for 10. What do the following have in common: “Moorov, concert, fraud.” Cases involving these elements may cause more difficulty for jurors than say, a straight-forward assault. Whatever the complexity, we do allow the most difficult cases to be dealt with by a jury,

Sophie Pike explores the cost of childcare and how that should be shared between separated parents. The cost of childcare in the UK is reported to be amongst the most expensive in the world, with an average full time nursery placement costing nearly £15,000 per child per year. In Scotland, fun

The accused in the under-25 rape case, Sean Hogg, may be considering an appeal against conviction. It is unlikely that he will appeal the sentence, but the Crown may do so. The sentencing judge came in for a lot of criticism for not imposing a custodial sentence, but we should not rule out the

A man who was convicted of stabbing another man at a bus stop outside a high-rise block in Glasgow and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment as a result has lost an appeal against his conviction and sentence in the High Court of Justiciary. Richard Gordon was convicted of the attempted murder of

Douglas J. Cusine comments on the "bizarre" suggestion of academics that juries should no longer be directed to take into account the body language of witnesses. My premise is that we should approach conclusions drawn from mock trials with caution, and governments, in particular, should be wary of c

The Justice Secretary, Keith Brown, has said on a number of occasions that the Scottish government supports an independent judiciary. The Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill suggest that the Scottish government does not trust the judiciary, or the more charitable explanation is that it doe

It is difficult to disagree with the sentiments expressed in the editorial about the actions of Messrs Jackson and McConnachie who have damaged the reputation of the legal profession in Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates in particular. There will be those who would wish these two to be removed as

It's just over a year since the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA) was founded to represent the interests of criminal lawyers, and the organisation and its inaugural president Julia McPartlin have had a busy time since then. The SSBA was launched during a challenging period. The profession w

As the US passes a bill named for a young boy whose brutal racist murder shocked America and the wider world, SLN takes at look at the the case and the injustice that followed. On August 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American boy from Chicago, was tortured and murdered by t

When Scotland’s most senior judge and his colleagues oppose the suggested reforms to the legal profession and when he is joined in opposition by both the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates and the President of the Law Society of Scotland, on behalf of their respective bodies, some might be conce

Justice Secretary Keith Brown’s wish to find “credible and consistent” alternatives to a custodial sentence is laudable. That said, finding these is not an easy task, nor can it be done without substantial and long-term investment – something which many governments do not esp

As one of Scotland’s busiest trial counsel, Thomas Leonard Ross QC is well-known for passionately fighting for justice – in the courtroom and out of it. Most recently he has been a vocal opponent of the proposal that the historical right to trial by jury be removed where serious sexual o