header-logo header-logo

Joint enterprise: justice denied?

18 March 2022 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7971 / Categories: Features , Criminal , Profession
printer mail-detail
75215
Post-Jogee, the failure of the courts to get to grips with the iniquity of joint enterprise is shocking, says Jon Robins

It has been six years since the highest court in the land ruled that the controversial law of joint enterprise had taken ‘a wrong turn’ in 1984. That anniversary was marked earlier this year with a demonstration outside of the Supreme Court by the campaign group Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association (JENGbA), dressed, as ever, in bright red. Families of those with loved ones convicted under the controversial common law doctrine hoped ‘justice’ would follow the 2016 ruling in the case of R v Jogee [2016] UKSC 8. By contrast, tabloid newspapers worked themselves up into a froth of righteous outrage, with the Daily Mail predicting that ‘more than 500 killers could seek to have their sentences quashed’.

Back in 2016, Lord Neuberger declared it ‘the responsibility of this court to put the law right’. That ruling was seen as a landmark judgment, with the Criminal Bar Association

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Real estate dispute resolution team welcomes newly qualified solicitor

Morr & Co—Dennis Phillips

Morr & Co—Dennis Phillips

International private client team appoints expert in Spanish law

NLJ Career Profile: Stefan Borson, McCarthy Denning

NLJ Career Profile: Stefan Borson, McCarthy Denning

Stefan Borson, football finance expert head of sport at McCarthy Denning, discusses returning to the law digging into the stories behind the scenes

NEWS
Paper cyber-incident plans are useless once ransomware strikes, argues Jack Morris of Epiq in NLJ this week
In this week's NLJ, Robert Hargreaves and Lily Johnston of York St John University examine the Employment Rights Bill 2024–25, which abolishes the two-year qualifying period for unfair-dismissal claims
Writing in NLJ this week, Manvir Kaur Grewal of Corker Binning analyses the collapse of R v Óg Ó hAnnaidh, where a terrorism charge failed because prosecutors lacked statutory consent. The case, she argues, highlights how procedural safeguards—time limits, consent requirements and institutional checks—define lawful state power
Cryptocurrency is reshaping financial remedy cases, warns Robert Webster of Maguire Family Law in NLJ this week. Digital assets—concealable, volatile and hard to trace—are fuelling suspicions of hidden wealth, yet Form E still lacks a section for crypto-disclosure
NLJ columnist Stephen Gold surveys a flurry of procedural reforms in his latest 'Civil way' column
back-to-top-scroll