The research comes a two-year study which took evidence from 1,000 jurors

Scotland’s controversial jury system, which allows 15 jurors to choose between three verdicts, faces an overhaul in the wake of research to be published this week.

The result of a two-year study of Scottish juries, which took evidence from 1,000 jurors, is expected to lead to a consultation to consider reducing the size of juries and giving a choice of only two verdicts.

Unlike most legal systems, Scottish juries can deliver three findings: guilty, not guilty or not proven — which Sir Walter Scott famously termed “that bastard verdict” after a jury opted for it in the case of a woman accused of poisoning a servant.

Campaigners for victims of rape and other sexual offences have put pressure on ministers to drop the second acquittal