Danger, Kenny at work
“Corroboration in our legal system is a barrier to obtaining justice for the victims of crime committed in private or where no-one else was there.”
Q. Who said that?
A. Kenny MacAskill, Scotland’s Justice Secretary.
Sometimes I worry about Kenny. No, that’s wrong: often, I worry about Kenny. Corroboration in our legal system is also a barrier against wrongful conviction of the innocent on the word of one person, who may be malicious, may have misinterpreted what he or she saw, or may be just plain wrong. It is one of the cornerstones of a system that is admired around the world, but our man Kenny wants to sweep it away. His thinking is that this dangerous step will increase the number of convictions for rape and sexual assault cases. That may be so, but will it always be the guilty who are convicted? And what will be the effect when it is applied to other crimes?
The proposal is a charter for miscarriages of justice across the board.
