Miscarriages of Justice - WHO is accountable

The accumulation of innocent people that been exonerated for criminal offences is always increasing and therefore draws international “public and political” attention to the problem of false convictions. Although miscarriage of justice cases are not a new phenomenon, research in this area is strengthening and providing critical information that identifies and reflects upon the flaws within the criminal justice system and the police force.

Essentially leading to improved reforms, decisions and recommendations of better working collaborations, between teams.

The importance of these uncovering's is that research is lowering the rates of wrongful convictions.

The relationship between the police and CPS is substantial because the police are accountable for criminal investigation and detection, as well as public safety and assurance, the CPS count on police intervention to help secure a solid criminal conviction. Unfortunately, as the below evidence suggests the police and CPS have been using dishonourable tactics to deceive society.

WHY?

The justice system is responsible for fairness, transparency, independence and ensuring individuals who come into contact with the criminal justice system have some security knowing they have a right to a fair and speedy trial, this is also guaranteed because the judiciary is recognised as experts who strive for justice whilst ensuring that injustices are prevented, therefore promoting "professionalism and accountability”

Meanwhile, a review by the Attorney General has confirmed both the police and prosecution have refused to disclose important evidence that would cast a light on the innocence of those that have been accused of a crime, this is often seen in rape cases. To emphasize 47 rape cases were paused because profound information was not disclosed to the defence team. In addition, there have been 1,600 cases dismissed in the UK because key evidence was withheld by both the prosecution and the police, it is suspected that these figures could be higher because failures are not always identified or recorded as accurately as they should be.

Similarly, a £34m money laundering trial in London, was thrown out of court after a judge identified serious failings by the CPS, this reflects the catastrophic need for more staffing, equally, skills need more robust intervention. Currently, there is a huge surge in cases that will see the system collapse unless there is significant investment ploughed into the criminal justice system and investment into the weaknesses identified with "public servants"

WEAKNESSES

Findings suggest the police cannot cope with the limited legal powers they have when trying to access smartphones without the owner's consent. In critical circumstances, the mobile owner can always say no, it is then up to the police to decipher the legal requirement that will gain them sufficient entry into the phone. As described in Section 49 Notice Regulation of Investigatory Powers 2000. There are exceptional circumstances that do permit the police immediate access to a mobile phone without the owner's consent.

For example; if the police believe there is evidence of either;

• Terrorism
• Child abuse
• The police believe the phone is stolen
• Search warrant for an address, in some cases, can cover the police searching a mobile

In cases where there are no exceptional circumstances present, mobile phone pins do not have to be disclosed to the police, this then gives the owner time to delete evidence from Google, Cloud and other social media storage apps whilst the police wait for legal ratification.

This is especially evident when investigating cases that are of a complicated manner, essentially the case can become very difficult to prosecute, and problematic for juries to understand. When dealing with criminal cases, those investigating the case can bear a mindset, that can become overwhelmed, emotional, exhausted, overburdened, overworked and confused by the legality surrounding evidence. Therefore utilize strategies that are overruled by overthinking and that is also prone to making irrational decisions.

Although the police and CPS are not without specialists within their teams, there is still a vast need to continually learn, refresh and update existing skills to meet the competing demands of "criminal intent", it has been highlighted that police officers and investigators are lacking in experience/expertise, notably, there is also a lack of resources across the system. In essence, workloads are often unsustainable and unmanageable resulting in inexperienced and overworked staff overlooking cases that are beyond their capacity, thus resulting in underperformance.

Nonetheless, Justice Inspectorates acknowledged the rise in pressure on the police has increased their focus towards weaknesses in a particular case instead of establishing a stronger case. Their report also suggests the CPS had lost focus and in a small percentage of cases, there were repeated requests for futile information, robust teamwork and regular communication between the police and prosecutors would ensure time has not been wasted on over-cautious requests, which significantly delays cases, therefore drastically impacts victims and essentially amounts to the increased public pressure and the need for speed instead of accuracy in securing convictions.

The Justice Inspectorate report has made some recommendations on the following;

• Increased the need for specialist staff within the police
• Joint training for the police and CPS
• Improved communications locally between the CPS and the police

It has been said many times that the justice system is on its knees, inaccessible for most, understaffed and underfunded, these types of flaws in the Justice system creates a breakdown in public confidence.

POST OFFICE SCANDAL

All the same, not all cases are because of flaws in the criminal justice system, a fine example is the post office scandal in 2021, thirty-nine postmasters' convictions were quashed.

A faulty post office system that was installed called Horizon, saw a post office branch manager sentenced to prison for 9-months over a £59,000 discrepancy recorded on the new system, another post office worker was convicted of theft, and rejoiced at now having his conviction quashed. The post office has not been held accountable for the huge failings of its IT system, which took away the innocence, livelihood, and loss of liberty of these people. In total 700 members of post office staff faced prosecution because the Horizon system recorded incorrect evidence.

Lord Justice Holroyde, said the post office was aware there were faults on the system and instead of investigating the matter, they continued to steamroll over accusations the system was not working as it should. This is the biggest miscarriage of justice case to date in the UK.

POLICE

However, it is still worth pointing out that research suggests police investigations are the biggest contributor towards miscarriage of justice cases, equally there are corrupt police that will deliberately tamper with evidence, whilst having a vast need to abuse their power Sergeant Wayne Jenkins is a prime example, who is now serving a prison sentence for robbery and corruption all committed whilst he was still a serving police officer. Additionally, 85,000 police officers in the USA were investigated for planting evidence, assaulting the public, sexually harassing women and spousal abuse, nonetheless, some of these records have been destroyed or shielded from the public to present an image of sincerity and honesty.

In the UK it is proposed that the police gather as much evidence as they possibly can, regardless of whether the evidence points to the accused or not, this requires discipline, honesty, sincerity and intelligence because the police must examine the available evidence against the Code for Crown Prosecution - evidential test

• Is there enough evidence against the accused
• Is it in the public interest for CPS to take the accused to court?

If it does not meet the specified requirements of the test, the case should not proceed any further. It is that SIMPLE. The evidential test sets important precedence for further infrastructure and demands that are adopted to help those that have unfairly been accused.

As research suggests, accountability is subjective, however, there is a strong link, that in some instances the police and the CPS get it wrong. There are many reasons for this, however, where evidence has been withheld or tampered with, should the justice system not hold the police and CPS responsible and punish them as they see fit.

It has been established that there are no such cases that hold these individual people accountable for their devastating actions!

Isn't it time that those that have been wrongly IMPRISONED get to hold those accountable for making that final decision?