British inquiry threatens rights of defendants

Issue 

By Nick Fredman

LONDON — Key recommendations of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice are not only inadequate, but positively harmful to the rights of the accused, according to supporters of civil liberties here.

The royal commission was set up, supposedly to seek ways to prevent innocent people from being convicted, following the release of the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six — Irish people who spent long years in prison for crimes they didn't commit.

Since 1989 more than 50 convictions have been overturned. Prison reform groups claim that there are hundreds more innocent people imprisoned in Britain.

The "independent" inquiry was headed by shipping magnate Lord Walter Garrison Runciman (Eton, Cambridge, Grenadier Guards), and included a police commander, two other business executives (one whose company donated £100,000 to the Conservative Party last year) and a senior civil servant in the security and intelligence service.

The commission's recommendations include:

  • Abolition of the right to a jury for defendants in "middle-ranking" cases such as assault, criminal damage and arson, unless the prosecution or magistrate recommends otherwise. Research quoted in the Guardian newspaper shows that chances of acquittal in a magistrate's court were only 37% compared to 57% in a crown (jury-tried) court. All those tried by jury for offences relating to the 1984 miners' strike and the poll tax rebellion were released.

  • Continued use of confessions as sufficient evidence for a conviction, as long as they are tape recorded and judges warn the jury of the limitations. Most of the miscarriages of justice unearthed so far relied on "confessions", often beaten out of the victim.

These two proposals have come in for particular

criticism from members of the Law Society, Bar Association and civil liberties groups. Other recommendation include:

  • Counsel for the defence must reveal the substance of their case to the police and prosecution before a crown court trial begins. This was criticised by a dissenting commissioner as an attack on the presumption of innocence.

  • Introduction of a US-style plea bargaining system. Defendants are pressured into pleading guilty by the hope of securing a lighter sentence.

  • Establishment of a national DNA bank for genetic fingerprinting of offenders; extending the powers of police to take DNA samples from suspects without consent.

The police reacted to the report with enthusiasm, although expressing disappointment that suspects were still to be accorded the right of remaining silent.

Michael Mansfield, QC, who represented the Birmingham Six, expressed disappointment: "The report did not address wrongful convictions. There was a great deal about increasing the power of the police and diminishing the right of trial by jury."

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