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UK: New Labour's second term plans

01 May 2001

On securing a second term in government, the Labour government announced plans to give more new powers to the police and further erode the rights of suspects and people caught up in the criminal justice system. The Queen's speech, which sketches out the new government's legislative programme, contained proposals on the use of previous convictions in criminal trials, removal of the "double jeopardy" rule, tougher sentencing, expanding the sex offender's register and the confiscation of assets.
At present, juries are not told about defendants' previous convictions and must reach their verdict on the strength of the evidence before them. If prior convictions are revealed to juries, it is bound to lead to cases where they convict on the basis of a defendant's criminal record even if there is insufficient evidence. "Double jeopardy" is the rule that says a person can not be tried twice for the same offence, or on the basis of the same facts. The government may seek a retrospective law, allowing people acquitted before any new law comes into force to be retried - although this may well not be comptaible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Proposals relating to the confiscation of assets have already been made. People will have to prove ? initially to the police and then in public at trial ? that their assets were obtained lawfully, instead of the prosecution having to prove they were obtained illegally: a complete reversal of presumption of innocence. Judges are to decide whether to freeze a suspect's assets on the "balance of probabilities"; a new Criminal Assets Recovery Agency will investigate.

Liberty press release 20.6.01; Legal Action Group, July 2001.