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"Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill has been examining the case since March on a proposal by the Scottish Law Commission after World's End murders convict, Angus Sinclair, was cleared of his charges in 200.

Scrapping the law will allow a second prosecution of Sinclair for the rape and murder of two teenagers in 1977.

The acquittal of Sinclair in August 2007 provoked public outrage with MacAskill saying the World's End case "scarred the soul of Scotland". "

So basically, The govt could not build a case on the guy(at the time), a good enough one at that, and now has decided that since it cant win all of its cases that involve serious crimes, that they can just say "screw it, if we want you convicted, you will be convicted, even if it takes your whole life to defend, and ruining it at the same time because we are too inept to get the job done right the first time".

Am I correct on this assessment?

Me thinks that there are deeper, more sinister motives for this.
I guarantee its not all in the name of two teenage girls who were raped and killed(bless their souls).

Could it be because the state loses so much money fighting these cases only to lose because they dont know how to build a case?

You are innocent if we say you are innocent!

I say this to those scotts', if this goes through, Id be looking for a new homestead, or at least prapare the masses for an all out confrontation
on their tyranical lawmakers.

Good luck Scotland

Am I correct on this assessment?

Yes you are.

And since when the government, especially a British one, cares when people are raped or killed? They certainly don't care when it's happening in Darfur or their colonies.

This is just using an opportunity to rape the people again.

Scotland should be invaded and democratized.

BTW it wouldn't surprise me if this kind of thing was coming too in North America... after all a few years ago, in the US, they tried to abolish jury trials.

[edit on 16-8-2010 by Vitchilo]

We (the big WE) really should back to the death penalty for every minor offense after a trial in a kangaroo court sounds Just peachy, don't you think so? If we stop being crybabies and worrying about who's innocent and make sure every guilty soul is caught in time or pays the proper penalty...no price is too high if it prevents even one guilty person from going free.

If the basic question here it "Why?" - please consider:

We have a similar "law" in the US regarding double jeopardy that our criminal justice system is very adept at avoiding. If the PTB think they have evidence to indict you on multiple counts of multiple crimes, they'll pick one serious offense to go to trial, preserving the ability to reprosecute (re-persecute maybe) any of the other offenses. THEN if they win, they'll introduce all the other evidence to the judge to invoke mandatory sentencing guidelines and put you away for the sum of the penalties for the alleged offenses (the ones that don't go to trial).

Perhaps the reason for "Why?" in Scotland is that under a much broader (common law) tradition on double jeopardy, it is simply too difficult nowadays for the State to ring the cash register of justice. Really, the only reason that makes much sense is the expense to the State. It's like "Look those countries are making money off crime this way, maybe we should change the law so we can make money this way as well."

Just my opinion.... with unbridled capitalism, everything spins the wheels on the cash register (economy) - money-crime-government are the "unholy trinity".

gj

I don't like this one bit. The proposal means they can keep trying you in court, time after time after time, until they get their conviction.

Not amused if this goes through.

Wow this is really bad, prosecutors can just keep taking shots until they get a conviction.

More power for the government which is almost never a good thing.

It seems Double Jeopardy law was already abolished in England a few years ago.

But to have a retrial ``significant`` new evidence have to be put forward.

Of course ``significant`` is all up to the government.

If the laws abolished infringes on individuals human rights, then it can be challenged.

To abolish this law anyways, they have to obtain the agreement of all the MSP's at the Scottish Parliament. Which I doubt they will all agree to this. The Scottish Government is a minority Government, bear that in mind. It will be a long process before they manage to get this LAW Abolished.

Oh and before I forget, to the little jibe with regards to invading Scotland, others have tried and have failed. Come ahead if you think you are hard enough!!!!

[edit on 22-8-2010 by Laurauk]