Truth or proof?: The criminal verdict

Jackson, Bernard S.

doi:10.1007/bf01110409

Cited by 17 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…1 For instance, within the Anglo-American legal system, only the verdicts of guilty and not guilty are available. 2 Therefore, if the evidence does not provide proof beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the accused illegal act, then a not guilty verdict is appropriate. 2 However, within the Scottish legal system, three verdicts are available: guilty, not guilty and not proven.…”

Section: Development Of the Not Proven Verdictmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2 Therefore, if the evidence does not provide proof beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the accused illegal act, then a not guilty verdict is appropriate. 2 However, within the Scottish legal system, three verdicts are available: guilty, not guilty and not proven. To understand how this system developed, we need to look back at the late 17th century and early 18th century.…”

Section: Development Of the Not Proven Verdictmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, Jackson 2 suggests that the definition of the Anglo-American verdicts may differ when the not proven verdict is available. When a guilty verdict is given in a two-verdict system, it could be said that the information supplied allowed guilt to be proven beyond reasonable doubt.…”

Section: Review Of Empirical Studies Surrounding the Not Proven Verdictmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When a guilty verdict is given in a two-verdict system, it could be said that the information supplied allowed guilt to be proven beyond reasonable doubt. 2 Conversely, not guilty verdicts in a two-verdict system can be given when a jury believes that either the person was truly innocent or when the defendant was truly guilty but the evidence was lacking in relation to a conviction. 2 This would then mean that acquitted individuals who are truly innocent might face social sanctions, as the public may think that they were actually guilty.…”

Section: Review Of Empirical Studies Surrounding the Not Proven Verdictmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The bastard verdict and its influence on jurors

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Scottish legal system is a unique jurisdiction, as jurors are able to give not proven verdicts in addition to the well-known Anglo-American verdicts (guilty and not guilty). The not proven verdict has never been legally defined, meaning that currently legal practitioners can only estimate why a not proven verdict has been given. The main aim of this study was to investigate if jurors violate the regularity principle, which is commonly incorporated in many rational choice models, by testing if the introduction of the not proven verdict has an impact on the outcomes given by jurors. In addition, this study aimed to test if the introduction of the not proven verdict has an impact upon how the not guilty verdict is perceived by jurors. In this study, 128 participants listened to two vignettes centred on homicide trials. Jurors could give one of two verdicts in one of the vignettes and one of three verdicts in the other vignette. The vignettes were counterbalanced in regard to how many verdicts could be given at the end of them. It was found that jurors in a three-verdict system were less likely to give a not guilty verdict in comparison to jurors in a two-verdict system, showing that jurors violate the regularity principle and that the not proven verdict may change how the not guilty verdict is perceived. The findings of this research have implications in relation to juror communication, article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights and juror rationality.

show abstract

Section: Development Of the Not Proven Verdictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Development Of the Not Proven Verdictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of Empirical Studies Surrounding the Not Proven Verdictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of Empirical Studies Surrounding the Not Proven Verdictmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The bastard verdict and its influence on jurors

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The Semiotic Square enabled Jackson (1998) to describe both the differences and similarities between clear and unclear legal cases. Among semiotically oriented genre analysis using the Semiotic Square, Jackson's study (1998) on legal discourse may provide a good example of the application of the Semiotic Square for those from ESP backgrounds who are unfamiliar with it.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The CARS Model and Binary Opposition Structure

Sawaki

2014

PJOS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper proposes solutions for a number of difficulties that Swalean generic structure analysis has been experiencing concerning the identification methods it applies to generic structure components. It does this by integrating the Greimassian method, a structuralist method of reducing elements to the minimal units of signification. In making this proposal, it points out that the underlying goal of Swalean genre analysis, which aims to classify various academic elements that differ in their degree of prototypicality into an umbrella of family resemblance, can be considered analogous to the structuralist goal of reducing elements to the minimal units despite the different theoretical groundings of these two approaches. It demonstrates the compatibility of these approaches by reducing some of the components of the Creating A Research Space (CARS) model; namely, it reduces Move 1 and Move 2 into one unit. Additional emerging elements that are similarly complex in academic writing, such as postmodern personal anecdotes, can also be sorted out into this unit. It concludes that methods in semiotics may offer useful frameworks for the applied disciplines where signification processes need to be revealed in analysis.

show abstract

Proven and not proven: A potential alternative to the current Scottish verdict system

Curley

Munro

Turner

et al. 2022

Behavioral Sci & The Law

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The current Scottish verdict system includes three verdicts: ‘guilty’, ‘not guilty’ and ‘not proven’. The Scottish Government are currently reviewing the utility of the not proven verdict. Proponents of the not proven verdict suggest that it directs jurors to their true role of determining whether the prosecution's case has, or has not, been ‘proven’. Reformists suggest a move to a system similar to England and Wales, with only guilty and not guilty verdicts. However, legal professionals have indicated a preference for an alternative system of proven and not proven. The aim of the current study was to test the effects of a proven and not proven system on verdicts given, when compared to alternative verdict systems (specifically, the current Scottish and Anglo‐American verdict systems). 227 mock jurors watched a staged murder trial, filmed in a real‐life courtroom, with legal professionals questioning witnesses and a judge giving legal direction. Jurors were significantly more likely to convict in a guilty and not guilty verdict system than either a proven and not proven or a guilty, not guilty and not proven verdict system. Future research should replicate this study with a focus on the impact of the not proven verdict in sexual offences.

show abstract

Truth or proof?: The criminal verdict

Cited by 17 publications

References 12 publications

The bastard verdict and its influence on jurors

The bastard verdict and its influence on jurors

The CARS Model and Binary Opposition Structure

Proven and not proven: A potential alternative to the current Scottish verdict system

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About