Member

I voice my continued support for amendments relating to joint enterprise, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Riverside (Kim Johnson). Too many young people, disproportionately young black men, have been convicted under joint enterprise simply for being present; not for pulling a trigger, wielding a knife or planning a crime, but for being in the wrong place, with the wrong people, at the wrong time. Sometimes that place just happens to be where they live. That doctrine relies on racist assumptions about gang affiliation and collective guilt, and despite repeated warnings from campaigners, academics and even senior judges, nothing has changed. That is why these amendments are so important to review, to correct and to prevent any further injustices.