To give him power again in the courtroom, I think violates a human right

Dr Lynn Jamieson

The executive has been criticised for taking too long to amend the law but it said lawyers had had to verify that the proposals were compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The changes being put forward in the consultation paper, Redressing the Balance, include preventing the accused from cross-examining the alleged victim.

Four options are identified:

• Requiring the accused to be represented only for cross-examination of the complainer

• Giving the court discretion to appoint a legal representative for the accused in particular circumstances

• Requiring the accused to be legally represented throughout the trial

• Requiring the questioning of the complainer to be done via the judge when the accused is unrepresented.

Another area covered by the paper relates to the defence's use of the complainer's sexual history.

If this is used as the basis of the defence case, the Crown will step in and demand that the accused reveals to the court the detail of any previous convictions of a sexual nature.

At the moment, previous convictions are withheld from the jury until after a verdict has been reached.

There will be greater protection for alleged victims

Justice Minister Jim Wallace said: "We recognise that asking a victim irrelevant and intrusive questions about their sexual history or character can cause great distress."

Dr Lynn Jamieson, a sociologist at Edinburgh University who has studied rape trials, said men accused of rape should be stopped from cross-examining their alleged victims.

"Rape is an offence in which a man exercises extreme power over a woman, treats her like a thing, subjects her to profound abuse.

"To give him power again in the courtroom, I think violates a human right.

Legal balance

"There are human rights on both sides and it's a case of working out the legal balance," said Dr Jamieson.

"In Scotland, all people have the right to defend themselves but also of course, people who are bringing complaints of crime have human rights too.

"In this case, because of the nature of rape, I think the balance is wrong."

However, leading defence advocate Derek Ogg said the proposals went too far.

"I worry when politicians start interfering with fundamental minimum rights in order to pander to fears that people have that there is some sort of abuse going on in the system," he said.

The final date for submissions to the paper is 31 January.