Not proven

The centuries old Scottish jury verdict of ‘not proven’ has just been abolished. From now on an accused can only be convicted in Scotland if at least 10 members of a 15 person jury agree on a guilty verdict, rather than eight at present.

The Scottish criminal courts can either rule guilty or not guilty but not “not proven”. In Scotland now some limited research into how juries reach their verdicts will be allowed but not elsewhere in the UK.

Until 1967 jury verdicts in England and Wales had to be unanimous but then majority verdicts were introduced.

January 2026
Rodney Hylton-Potts