John Wadham, Director of Liberty, says:

"In years to come, as more innocent people emerge after years in prison caused by these plans, we'll wonder how Parliament let this shameful attack on justice get into law.

"Blaming fair trial protections for crime rates is wrong and misleads the public. Over 90% of people who go to court are convicted. The problem is that in over three-quarters of all crimes - over four million every year - no-one is arrested.

"That's about resources and efficiency in the police and crown prosecution service - not about the courts. The Government is focusing on the wrong end of the criminal justice system.

"Making trials less fair won't cut crime rates: it will send more innocent people to prison. The Government wants to shortcut justice, because it's cheap and it gets good headlines. But it's wrong and it won't solve the problem.

"The politicians will get to look tough on crime, but crime levels will go untouched, while British justice will be seriously damaged. And the measures that attack fair trial standards won't help victims either: eroding the rights of suspects won't give victims the rights they have waited too long to receive".


Liberty's principal concerns relate to the removal of safeguards against wrongful conviction:

EVIDENCE - PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS, HEARSAY
Allowing evidence of previous convictions and hearsay evidence may get the result the Government wants - more convictions - but far too many of them will be the wrongful convictions of innocent people. Previous convictions do not prove that someone committed this offence on this occasion; introducing them will simply mean more people being convicted because they appear to be someone 'likely' to have committed an offence.

The admission of hearsay evidnce gives real cause for alarm, especially as the Bill itself gives the example that "if A said that B said that C had shot the deceased", that evidence would be admissible in court.

The Government talks about 'shifting the balance' towards victims not defendants: it can't see that if you convict the wrong people, both the innocent defendant and the victim suffer.

JURY TRIAL
The Government intends to erode trial by jury in 'serious and complex cases'. The Government's efforts yet again to cut jury trials show contempt both for trial by jury - the very core of our criminal justice system - and for Parliament, which has twice already rejected schemes to deny more people this basic right. Just as people should not be allowed to avoid jury service without very good reason, so juries should not be discarded by the Government or courts at the least excuse.


DOUBLE JEOPARDY
Removing the protection of double jeopardy may well help convict a handful more serious criminals; unfortunately, it will also lead to the repeated prosecution of many more innocent people - not just rape and murder, but for a possible 29 offences. For innocent people, even once acquitted, their ordeal won't be over. And police and prosecutors, knowing they can have a 'second bash', won't have to tackle real problems of incompetent investigation in the first place.