Articles
A full list of all the posts that have been made on accused.scot
What Scotland Still Does Not Properly Measure
What Scotland Cannot Properly Measure About False Allegations A look at the systemic asymmetry in Scottish criminal justice data recording, where the administrative structures surrounding allegation remain visible, while the metrics for tracking proven fabrications…
No Equality Assessment for Scotland’s Transcript Scheme
No Assessment, No Disclosure A Freedom of Information response confirms that no formal Equality Impact Assessment was carried out before the introduction of Scotland’s complainer transcript scheme, while legal advice on its compatibility with fair trial rights and…
When Access to Justice Depends on the Balance Sheet
When Access to Justice Depends on the Balance Sheet Internal Scottish Government material released under Freedom of Information law shows that concerns about affordability and access to justice were being raised throughout a court fee consultation at the same time as…
The Terminology Debate They Didn’t Publish.
The Terminology Debate They Didn’t Publish Internal Scottish Government material released under Freedom of Information law reveals that officials, senior legal stakeholders, and parliamentary representatives explicitly debated whether the use of the word “victim”…
Recorded, But Not Recognised
Recorded, But Not Recognised A Freedom of Information response from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service confirms that Scotland’s prosecution system holds no mechanism for identifying or analysing allegations later shown to be false. It does, however, record…
What Happens When a System Cannot See Itself
What Happens When a System Cannot See Itself This Freedom of Information series on Scotland’s criminal justice system set out to answer a straightforward question. Not how the system is supposed to work, but how it operates in practice, and whether it can be examined….
The Working Group That Isn’t
The Working Group That Isn’t Court transcripts sit at the centre of the appeal process in Scotland. An appeal depends on identifying what was said in court, how evidence was led, and how a jury was directed. Without access to that record, it becomes difficult to test…
Scrutiny After Permission: Access to Trial Transcripts in Scotland
Scrutiny After Permission There is a basic assumption in any criminal justice system. If a conviction is going to be challenged, the record of what happened in court has to be available for scrutiny. In practice, that is not always how the system works. In a recent…
When Asked for the Record, None Was Found
When Asked for the Record, None Was Found A review response from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, issued on 17 April 2026, confirms under section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 that no recorded information exists of any project,…