THE letter from Sandy Brindley of Rape Crisis Scotland (October 16), in response to Stuart Waiton's article ("Men at risk of being branded 'rapist' for political reasons", The Herald, October 15), was entirely expected and, to a certain extent, understandable. Ms Brindley is very critical of Mr Waiton's excellent and well-reasoned article. In particular she complains about the poor conviction rates of rape cases and implies that this is a fault of the criminal justice system. She should realise, of course, that there is no bias in the criminal justice system towards alleged rape victims. Some crimes, including rape, are difficult to prosecute simply because of the lack of corroborative forensic or other evidence. All alleged crimes have to satisfy a jury that there is a beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offence.
What cannot be allowed to happen is any weakening of a sound justice system just to accommodate certain factions. We already have the #Me Too movement which wants all victims to be believed, the corollary of which must be that every defendant is found guilty, which would indeed mean the “destruction of justice”.
Thomas Masson,
15 Langton Place, Newton Mearns.
SANDY Brindley claims the civil case for damages against Stephen Coxen was a "wake-up call" for our criminal justice system. Well that's one way of looking at it, but it was also a catastrophe for presumption of innocence.
In a civilised society that presumption is fundamental. One of the noblest aspects of western justice is that people aren't branded guilty of serious crimes unless judged to be so by their peers against a high standard of evidence.
Rape is a very serious crime and presents difficulties for criminal courts but this doesn't mean it should be handed over to civil courts to allow complainants a "sense of closure" resulting from its lower evidentiary standards.
Rape and other serious crimes must remain in the criminal courtroom, subject to rigorous standards and the presumption of innocence, and not left open to "no win-no fee" lawyers advertising on television as in the United States.
Rev Dr John Cameron,
10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
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