Professor Sharon Cowan co-authors new report on ‘rape shield’ laws in Scotland
Thu 18 April 2024
Edinburgh Law School’s Professor Sharon Cowan launched a new report yesterday, Wednesday 17 April 2024. Co-authored with Eamon Keane from the University of Glasgow and Professor Vanessa Munro from the University of Warwick, the report presents the findings of a 3-year project entitled ‘The Use of Sexual History Evidence and Sensitive Private Data in Scottish Rape and Attempted Rape Trials’.
The project was funded by the Scottish Government, and undertaken with the assistance of Rape Crisis Scotland and a Project Advisory Board of criminal justice stakeholders. The project evaluates the current implementation of the Scottish ‘rape shield’ law, which restricts the use of evidence of a complainer’s character or sexual history in sexual offences trials, in light of shifts in law, policy, and practice in this area over the last two decades. The research findings highlight areas where there has been clear, progressive change, as well areas where further review and improvements are needed to strengthen the rape shield in practice.
About this research, the Scottish Government’s Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “I welcome this research, funded by a grant from the Scottish Government, as part of a wider programme of research around how we might further understand and improve people’s experience of justice. The report shows that although some progress has been made, gender stereotypes still exist that can unfairly challenge the credibility and reliability of complainers in serious sexual offence cases. This is completely unacceptable.
“The Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill includes a proposal for victims to have a right to publicly funded independent legal representation when applications are made to use evidence of their sexual history or character in sexual offence cases. This will mean that complainers will be told when an application has been made, including information about what evidence is being sought and the proposed questioning, and give them the right to appeal certain decisions – which is currently not the case.”
Professor Cowan added: “We’d like to thank everyone who participated in this research and made the project possible. This is the first time in almost 20 years that researchers have had an opportunity to evaluate how these laws are applied in practice in Scotland, and we hope that the findings and recommendations are useful to the those reforming the law, as well as criminal justice stakeholders, and complainers, in sexual offences cases.”