Media in criminal trials debate 1

Justice Committee Convener Christine Grahame said the committee were yet to decide whether to undertake a full blown enquiry on media in criminal trials or whether to focus on one or two areas of interest on 23 October 2012.

The Justice Committee had brought the issue before holyrood in order to get views from MSPs and help them inform any future work in this area.

Cameras have been allowed in Scotland's courts since 1992 but only if all parties involved have given their consent.

The guidelines ask judges to consider "whether the presence of television cameras would be without risk to the administration of justice".

In practice this has meant the presence of cameras has been very rare - restricted to a few high-profile appeal court cases.

Community Safety and Legal Affairs Minister Roseanna Cunningham said it was the judiciary who were best placed to consider whether tv cameras should be allowed in court.

Ms Cunningham also said that "the victims should be at the centre of our consideration, not on the margins".

She said that one size would not fit all and that it was about striking the right balance.

Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said "legislation must be properly balanced to protect the rights of all those involved in court proceedings".

On 2 October 2012 the committee took evidence from Donald Findlay QC who said : "People who are convicted or acquitted of criminal charges could have their lives put at risk because there are people out there who may want to seek vengeance".

Alan McCloskey from Victim Support Scotland also gave evidence and said that "The ability or the facility to have TV cameras running, particularly in the high profile cases, could in some cases affect evidence and allow for the victim or the witness not to give their best evidence and that could have an impact on justice."

Putting the case for televising some aspects of criminal trials, Steven Raeburn from the law journal 'The Firm' said cameras in court would "add greatly to the administration of justice" providing more scrutiny.

The second part of the debate can be viewed below: