http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=643393&in_review_text_id=614173 "Double jeopardy" rule to be axed Second trials in cases like the Stephen Lawrence and Damilola Taylor murders could go ahead under trial system reforms announced by the Home Secretary. David Blunkett wants to dilute the 800-year-old principle of double jeopardy - which prevents anyone being tried twice for the same crime. The change will be retrospective, so that suspects who have already been acquitted could find themselves back in the dock if there is "compelling new evidence". And it will apply to a far wider range of crimes than previously thought - not only murder but for armed robbery, rape and manslaughter. It is part of a sweeping criminal justice White Paper which also said jurors should be allowed to be hear defendants' previous convictions, previous acquittals and "hearsay" evidence. Some dangerous or violent offenders will be kept in prison indefinitely, even if they have not been sentenced to life, it added. And under another change proposed, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, the young killers of toddler James Bulger, would not have been tried in an adult court. Hundreds of young offenders charged with serious crimes each year will now be tried at youth court rather than Crown court. Mr Blunkett said: "We will try to sort out the system from end to end with what I call straight common sense. We are trying to provide a blueprint for the next decade." Unveiling his double jeopardy plan, Mr Blunkett said: "With the development of DNA and forensic science it would be entirely wrong to rule out compelling new evidence that actually does show the person committed the crime." That last sentence scares the bejeepers out of me...why even have a trial by jury at all?? just send all suspects down to a big lab and let the computer tell us who did it! not a good idea to scrap civil rights protections that have existed for eons....turns out, the guys who developed these ideas of rights were pretty smart fellas.
I bet the writers of the "Patriot Act" are just salivating at the thought of bringing this double-jeopardy to the U.S. Sure, it's written in the constitution that one can't be tried twice for the same crime, but it also says there's no unwarranted search and seizure and we see how that was treated . . . This is a bad, bad road to go down . . .
NOTE TO SELF . . . open up hooligan related business in america for the strong influx of british criminals that got off. Rocket River If i had got off and this happened. . . i'd be leaving
I really don't know what to say about that Max. This is SO dangerous. I'll bet that there are defense barristers crying in their warm beer right about now. But seriously, what is next? Are they going to start ignoring the rules of res judicata in civil cases? And if they start ignoring rules are they scrapping stare decisis? If you take this out to its logical conclusion, then the laws in Britian now mean nothing because they can be changed at any time. The system will collapse on itself in time.
England has already infringed on people's rights by playing Big Brother in every street corner. And they've been accused of tapping people's internet and phone records. Wasn't this prophesized by Orwell?
