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Home Office
Press Release
24 May 2000
PROSECUTION RIGHT OF APPEAL REVIEW
Home Secretary Jack Straw announced today that the
prosecution right of appeal against "judge directed acquittal" is to
be reviewed by the Law Commission.
The review will look at decisions made by a Judge
that are adverse to the prosecution and which lead to a trial being stopped,
before the jury has been asked to consider the evidence.
Although a defendant who is convicted as a result of
a misdirection can be retried if the conviction is quashed on appeal, a
defendant wrongly acquitted on the trial judge's direction cannot.
Home Secretary Jack Straw said:
-
"The Government is concerned to ensure that
the Criminal Justice System acts fairly towards both defendants and victims.
"We believe that there may be an imbalance in the criminal justice process in that the prosecution has no right of appeal against the adverse rulings of a judge which result in the trial being stopped prematurely.
"This issue needs careful consideration, and the Law Commission is best placed to undertake this work."
The agreed terms of reference are:
" To consider
(a) whether any, and if so what, additional rights of appeal or other remedies should be available to the prosecution from adverse rulings of a judge in a trial on indictment which the prosecution may wish to overturn and which may result or may have resulted, whether directly or indirectly, in premature termination of the trial;
(b) to what, if any procedural restrictions such appeals would be subject."
and to make recommendations."
One of the Home Office objectives is to increase public confidence in the fairness of the Criminal Justice System by producing an effective modern framework for criminal law.
1. The Home Secretary asked the Law Commission to review the law of double jeopardy as part of the Government response to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report, in July last year. The Commission published their consultation paper on October 12, 1999 and the closing date for responses was 31 January 2000. The Commission is considering the responses and will report to the Government and make recommendations at the end of the year. Although this consultation document referred to prosecution rights of appeal as the terms of reference intended, it did not examine the issue specifically.
2. Details of the review were announced by way of a Parliamentary Question at 3.30pm from Linda Gilroy MP (Plymouth, Sutton).
