Psychology research cited by a motion in the Scottish Parliament on the Scots law

A motion in the Scottish Parliament on the Scots law, three verdict system (guilty, not guilty, not proven) cited recent research from the School of Psychology and Counselling. The research by Lee Curley, James Munro, Lara Frumkin and Jim Turner relied on a useful but neglected source of jury decision making data - the opinions of legal professionals on three vs two (guilty vs. not guilty) verdict systems, as well as other aspects of the unique aspects of Scots law including jury size and the size of majority required to return a verdict.

The motion cited the finding that lawyers ranked proven/not proven as their most preferred system even though this is not a system that currently exists in justice systems in other parts of the UK. Participants also indicated preference for the current unique 15-person jury, and for a requirement of 12 out of 15 jurors to return a verdict.