LCCSA Welcome Clarification of Law on Joint Enteprise
The Supreme Court today gave it's long awaited ruling on the controversial issue of Joint Enterprise. LCCSA committee member and criminal appeal specialist Steven Bird comments:-
"In R v Jogee [2016] UKSC 8 the Supreme Court has corrected the law on joint enterprise which has so troubled criminal lawyers, judges, academics and the public for the last 30 years.   The secondary party in a crime now has to have more than mere foresight of the possibility that the accomplice may commit the crime and has to intend that the crime be committed.     The Supreme Court sought to  limit  the effect on historic cases in the judgment and not all such convictions will be quashed as a result of this judgment. Each case that may find its way to the Court of Appeal, perhaps via the Criminal Cases Review Commission, will have to be judged on its own facts. However, this welcome clarification of the law offers some glimmer of hope to the many hundreds of people, mainly young, who are serving or have served lengthy prison sentences as a result of the previous interpretation of the law on joint enterprise."