Rape Shield

Senior defence lawyers have raised concerns about the right to a fair trial after Justice Secretary Angela Constance introduced amendments to extend “rape shield” protections in sexual offence cases. The measures, to be voted on by MSPs on Tuesday as part of the Victims, Witnesses, and J

Complainants in sexual offence trials would gain the right to independent legal advice when requests are made to introduce evidence of their past sexual behaviour, under new recommendations. As part of its End-to-End Rape Review, the UK government asked the Law Commission of England and Wales to exa

Rape shield laws are fostering an inequality of arms in the courtroom and violating the right to a fair trial, a criminal silk has argued. Thomas Ross KC said there was widespread concern at the defence bar over the human rights of accused persons but that lawyers fear speaking out in case doing so

The manner in which a sexual assault case was conducted "gives rise to real causes of concern", the Lord Justice General has said. At the Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary, Lord Carloway, sitting with Lord Turnbull and Lord Pentland, refused the appeal of Gavin Watson MacDonald who had be