The Gazette 1972

Accused could lose Major Court Rights Th e abolition of ma j or traditional safeguards of the criminal process is recommended in the forthcoming report of the Criminal Law Revision Committee, which may he published next month at the earliest. based too much on outdated theories of fair play inap- propriate in the context of the present war on profes- sional crime. In particular, the committee was per- suaded that too many guilty defendants now escape conviction.

The report, which is bound to create a ma j or sensa- tion in Parliament and legal circles, is now being consid- ered by the Home Secretary. It recommends the aboli- tion of the police caution, the general admissibility in evidence of previous convictions, and the compulsory appearance of the accused as a witness. T h e abolition of the caution was foreshadowed last year by Lord Parker in an interview on the occasion of his retirement as Lord Chief Justice. His successor, Lord Widgery, also favours the committee's approach on this issue; this is not surprising. T h e police caution, warning a suspect that he need not say anything, was developed at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Its origin was the belief that self- incriminatory statements should he free from the taint of unfairness and that once a person becomes a suspect he should he reminded of his right to remain silent lest through ignorance he he trapped into increasing the evidence against him. T h e committee has rejected as unworkable the sug- gestion by the legal journal Justice , that interrogation of suspects should be conducted before magistrates. It has also rejected the proposal that the result of police interrogations should only he admissible as evidence if tape-recorded. T h e only protection for the suspect apart from the general law regarding assault will be the com- mon law doctrine that an admission or confession must he voluntary. Accused must go into witness box Th e committee recommends that when the case comes to court the accused should he required to go into the witness box. At present he has the choice of remaining silent in the dock or of making an unsworn statement (on which he cannot he crossexamined) or of giving evidence. Und er the proposed new system he could refuse to answer questions and would not he punishable for con- tempt if he did so. But his refusal would be open and public and the jury would draw the appropriate con- clusions. 1 he right to silence in court has been part of our system of criminal trial since the beginning of the eighteenth century. T he old ecclesiastical courts and the Star Chamber had the power to summon a defen- dant and to examine him on oath. T h e abuse of these powers and in particular their association with the rack and other means of torture led to a deep-seated feeling that the right to silence was a fundamental feature of the English legal system. In recommending, by a majority, the general admissi- bility in evidence of previous convictions, the committee went further than the police themselves have suggested. This change, if implemented, would probably have an even more important effect on the outcome of trials than any of the committee's other proposals. Previous convictions are at present normally excluded on the ground that thev would have an unduly prejudicial effect on the mind of the jury. T h e chief rationale for the committee's hard-line approach has been its belief that the present rules are

The Home Secretary told the House of Commons on Ma r ch 17th that the rate of acquittals by juries in both 1969 and 1970 had been as high as 50 per cent. The Criminal Law Revision Committee is a particu- larly weighty one. It is chaired by Lord Justice Edmund Davies, who sentenced the mail train robbers. Its mem- bers include six other judges, a barrister who has re- cently been appointed a judge, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the chief metropolitan magistrate, a senior legal adviser to the Home Office, three academic law- yers, a solicitor, and a justice's clerk. Th e report, which has been eight years in preparation, will be published with a draft Bill to give effect to its recommendations. It is thought that the Government will probably introduce the Bill quickly before informed opposition to the report has had time to build up.

The Guardian (7th April 1972)

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