Nicola Sturgeon has announced the controversial not proven verdict will finally be scrapped after years of campaigning by victims of crime.
The Scottish legal system is different to the rest of the UK as three possible verdicts are available to jurors at criminal trials - guilty, not guilty and not proven.
Sturgeon told MSPs her government would publish a new Criminal Justice Bill in the coming year to abolish the third option.
The First Minister said: "If approved by Parliament, this will be a change of truly historic significance in Scotland, and one firmly intended to improve access to justice for victims of crime."
The legal implications of a not proven verdict are exactly the same as a not guilty verdict and means the accused is acquitted.
But critics have argued that it can be confusing for juries and the public - and can stigmatise an accused person by appearing not to clear them.
The Scottish Government consultation earlier this year found a majority of respondents were in favour of scrapping not proven. It found that some 62 per cent of the 194 answers to the question were in favour of abolishing it.
But seven of the eight legal organisations that responded to the consultation wanted to keep the current system in place. The Faculty of Advocates has previously warned that any attempt to remove the verdict could undermine the provision of “fair and equitable justice”.
In its submission to the consultation, the lawyers’ body said: “It is understood that in some quarters the not proven verdict is seen as a barrier to conviction. If this is so, then removing it is removing a safeguard and, in a system where a simple majority can result in conviction for the most serious of offences, including murder and rape, such a safeguard is not only necessary, but also fundamental.
“Given the uniqueness of the Scottish jury system, with 15 jurors, three verdicts and a simple majority to convict, the faculty considers that the not proven verdict cannot be scrapped in isolation without other fundamental changes being made to the jury system, particularly in relation to the size of any majority required for conviction.”
The faculty also drew attention to data published by the Scottish Government after a freedom of information request, which showed the not proven verdict was the least returned verdict between 2016 and 2020 in all solemn trials.
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