A new reality?

"What is your idea of a miscarriage of justice? Is it that Laura Johnson is likely to go to prison for ferrying rioters about, or that the Guantanamo five will be executed if (most think when) found guilty by a military court? For some, it is that people are sent to prison on weak or uncorroborated evidence. For others, it is the limitations placed by the Court of Appeal on reviewing convictions.

These are all highly-charged issues that face lawyers every day, but receive little public attention. Somehow it gets forgotten that those accused of offences are real people with families and friends, not some alien “criminal” species. What was it that led Samantha Brick to dominate the front pages last week for saying she is beautiful, rather than public outcry on my case involving yet another joint enterprise murder conviction? Do we really care more about who Jessie J picks to be part of her team on The Voice?

It is clear that the press see miscarriages of justice as “a bit 1980s” and that the general public seem to care more about Piers Morgan’s latest celeb interview. Where has public condemnation gone? Why are we all so silent? Forty-four years ago this month, Martin Luther King was killed. Like Dante, he took the view that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who stay silent. Just as the silent majority allowed the Vietnam War to go unchecked, it allows our justice system to crumble.

Recently, at The Guardian’s open weekend, Michael Mansfield QC warned against imagining that miscarriages of justice have declined. He highlighted faulty scientific evidence, decreased access to justice due to the emasculation of the legal aid system, and a renewed attempt to erode the right to trial by jury. There are many lawyers who would like to highlight the very real crisis that faces justice in this century but lawyers are demoralised…”

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