The legal profession had previously expressed concern the scheme could threaten the fundamental principle that an accused person is innocent until their guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Murray Etherington, president of the Law Society of Scotland, said it would “create a serious risk of injustice” while Thomas Ross KC said it created the possibility of a “witch hunt” against judges if they did not convict more people of sexual offences.
The legislation also contained proposals to reduce the size of Scottish juries from 15 to 12 with a majority of 8 required for a guilty verdict.
Prosecutors from the Crown Office told the criminal justice committee that could make it harder to get convictions.
It is believed the government is now planning to keep juries at 15, but raise the requirement for a guilty verdict to a majority of 10.
That would be presented as a counter balance to the abolition of not proven and recent changes on the rules on corroboration.
Ms Brindley said Rape Crisis Scotland was “extremely concerned” about this step, as it would make rape convictions even harder to achieve.
