Member

I want to draw some of the academic research to the attention of the Committee. Dr Nisha Waller at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies states that joint enterprise laws are vague and wide in scope, causing systemic injustice, including overcriminalisation, overpunishment, discriminatory outcomes and convictions where there is no compelling evidence of intent and the defendant’s physical contribution is minimal. Her research shows that the current flawed law encourages, first, the police and the CPS to charge suspects based on poor-quality evidence, secondly, highly speculative prosecution case theory to take precedence over evidentiary foundations, and, thirdly, use of gang narratives and vague concepts such as “being in it together” to imply collective intent, allowing mostly young Black males to be stereotyped and criminalised. She recommends that the scope of secondary liability law must be narrowed in favour of a clearer and safer legal framework and calls on the Government to make good on their commitment to reform the laws of secondary liability as soon as practically possible.