Scottish Criminal Evidence Law: Current Developments and Future Trends

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.

Key Features

• The only complete analysis of recent major changes to Scottish criminal evidence law
• Considers the likely future direction of criminal evidence law reform in Scotland
• Adopts a theoretical and comparative perspective and a socio-legal approach to Scottish criminal evidence law
• Evaluates theoretical models of criminal procedure