Select committee inquiry
Joint Enterprise: Follow-Up
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“In 2011, the Committee undertook a short inquiry into the operation of the legal doctrine of joint enterprise. In its Report, published 11 January 2012, (House of Commons Justice Committee, Joint Enterprise, Eleventh Report of Session 2010–12) the Committee made a number of recommendations directed toward increasing clarity in this complex area of law. The Committee now proposes to hold a further short inquiry into the changes that have occurred since its Report.”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What the government said
The government responded on 5 February 2015.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.
The Lord Chancellor does not commit to the Committee's two recommendations, saying data collection needs further discussion with the CPS and that any Law Commission review is for Ministers in the next Parliament.
- On recording joint enterprise homicide cases, the government says "further discussions between my officials and the Crown Prosecution Service are needed before any new system can be put in place", and will "revert" to the Committee once those discussions are complete.
- It states that it cannot "commit resources to reviewing historic case files" and is "not convinced" such an exercise would have "any real practical benefit".
- On asking the Law Commission to review the law, it says this would "not be appropriate" before the General Election because it would "effectively tie incoming Ministers to a particular course of action"; scope and leadership of any review are for new Ministers.
- It says the law "certainly does not criminalise innocent bystanders", and that it "recognise[s]" the view that the foresight principle is too harsh while noting that others disagree.
Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 14 May 2014 to its close on 5 February 2015.
- Oral evidence 2 sessions
- Report 17 Dec 2014
- Government response 5 Feb 2015
- Correspondence 5 Dec 2014
What it recommended 1 recommendation · 0 conclusions
22We recommend that the Ministry of Justice, in co-operation with the Crown Prosecution Service and...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We recommend that the Ministry of Justice, in co-operation with the Crown Prosecution Service and Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service as necessary, establish a system which records homicide cases brought under the joint enterprise doctrine. Information recorded should enable regular statistics on joint enterprise to be produced which would include: the number of cases in which any joint enterprise prosecutions are brought for murder and manslaughter; the number of defendants in each case charged as primary and secondary participants; the number charged with each offence and with lesser offences; the number of prosecutions which result in convictions for each offence as a primary or secondary offender; the number of appeals brought against conviction and/or sentence and the number of those which are successful; and a breakdown by age, ethnicity and gender of those prosecuted. We also recommend that the Ministry of Justice commission research to produce this information retrospectively from case management files for the last five years, although we recognize that there will be greater cost implications in this course of action. We further recommend that the Crown Prosecution Service undertake research to monitor and analyse the extent to which prosecutors are following the guidance in relation to cases where charges are brought under the joint enterprise doctrine. This will require prosecutors to record their reasons for charging decisions in joint enterprise cases, in so far as they do not already do so. 12 Joint enterprise: follow-up 3 Continuing questions about joint enterprise The scale of use of joint enterprise
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 2
- 22 Oct 2014No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗
- 3 Sep 2014No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗