Suchergebnisse

In 2012 an Independent Advisory Committee on Child Maltreatment concluded that the English legislation on child cruelty/child neglect was difficult to implement in practice and did not cover the range of harms which can be suffered by children, particularly emotional harm. English law has now been amended to make clear, inter alia, that it is an offence to ill-treat a child "whether physically or otherwise", and that the suffering or injury caused, or likely to be caused, can be of "a psychological nature". The English offence does, however, continue to refer to "wilful neglect", a controversial term that is also used in the equivalent Scottish offence, and which has been subject to various interpretations by courts on both sides of the border. This article briefly summarises the past and current English law, describes and critiques the Scottish law, and assesses whether amendments similar to those enacted for England and Wales ought to be adopted in Scotland. It concludes that Scots Law would benefit from further clarification, and argues that the interpretation of "wilful neglect" to include inadvertent recklessness is not appropriate.

The merits of corroborated evidence in criminal trials have been hotly debated in many jurisdictions, with most having now abandoned this requirement. The Scottish government intends to do likewise—at a time when some other jurisdictions are considering its reintroduction. This article considers whether there is merit in retaining a corroboration requirement for two types of evidence, namely for visual identifications and extra-judicial confessions. It explores whether the introduction of a weighted jury majority, as the government proposes, can compensate for the problematic nature of such evidence. In respect of visual identification evidence, it is argued that any safeguard which corroboration might have provided has been weakened by the way in which the courts have developed the law. Alternative mechanisms for improving the quality of such evidence are assessed. In relation to confessions, the article argues that increasing the jury majority is a poor substitute for corroboration.