Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

The System4.0.7 The recommendations combine a range of new elements within wellestablishedprinciples and procedures. Additional safeguards for the suspectare proposed together with greater police powers. Some obstacles to effectiveand efficient investigation are removed but other measures are introduced tobolster the human rights of the suspect during that investigation. Radicalchanges to the law of evidence are recommended so that the focus is directedaway from the present task of gauging the quantity of testimony towards amore fruitful analysis of its relevance and an assessment of its quality. Greatertrust is placed on the judge and jury to make accurate translations fromtestimony to findings in fact. Alterations to the law on the admissibility ofstatements by suspects are advanced with a view to improving the quality ofjustice generally by sweeping aside unnecessarily complex and oftenmisunderstood legal rules. Measures to streamline the appeal system ought toimprove consistency and efficiency whilst at the same time securing access tojustice at the appellate level, wherever that is deemed appropriate.4.0.8 The recommendations place a particular emphasis on a person’s right toliberty, recognising that the occasions when that liberty can be removed mustbe both well defined yet strictly constrained. A general right of arrest on“reasonable suspicion” is proposed to replace common law and statutory ruleson arrest and detention. Detention is an area where clarity of the rulesgoverning deprivation of liberty and an ongoing review of individualcircumstances is required. In the context of there being a presumption, albeit64