CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN CRISIS

In recent years the English criminal justice system has been shaken to its foundations by an unprecedented series of miscarriages of justice. The Guildford Four, the Maguire Seven, the Birmingham Six, Judith Ward and Stefan Kiszko are among the most prominent of those eventually cleared of serious crimes after many years in prison. While the sheer numbers of cases involved are troubling, it is the underlying causes of wrongful conviction which threw the system's credibility into question and led to the establishment of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice chaired by Lord Runciman. In Criminal Justice in Crisis an internationally distinguished group of leading academics, practitioners and campaigners critically examine the Royal Commission's Report with its proposals for removal of the right of a defendant to elect jury trial, the introduction of institutionalised plea bargaining, a compulsory obligation on the defence to disclose its case prior to trial, and extended police powers over suspects. The authors provide detailed criticisms of the Report at empirical, practical, policy and theoretical levels. At best the Report is seen as unhelpful, at worst it is considered a dangerous contribution to reform efforts.

This important book will be welcomed by scholars, practitioners and researchers as the only extended analysis of the Runciman Report available and for providing a broad analysis of the theory and politics of criminal justice.