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Understanding Miscarriages of Justice: Law, the Media and the Inevitability ofCrisis edited by Richard Nobles and David Schiff, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, xvi + 261 + (bibliography and index)18 pp (£45.00 hardback) ISBN 0 19 829893 5.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Clive Walker
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Type
Book Review
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , November 2000 , pp. 615 - 623
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 2000

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References

1. See C Walker and K Starmer Miscarriages of Justice (London: Blackstone Press, 1999) ch 2.

2. Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, Report (Cm 2263) (London: HMSO 1993).

3. Lord Chancellor's Department, Home Office and Law Officer's Department, The Royal Commission on Criminal Justice: Final Government Response (London: Home Office, 1996).

4. A Sanders and R Young Criininal Justice (London: Butterworths, 1994); S Uglow Criminal Justice (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1995); A Ashworth The Criminal Process: An Evaluative Study (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2nd edn, 1998).

5. (London: MacMillan, 2000).

6. (London: Blackstone Press, 1999).

7. See especially S Greer ‘Miscarriages of justice reconsidered’ (1994) 57 MLR 58 and Ashworth, above n 4.

8. See especially R v Mullen (1999) 2 Cr App R 143; R v DPP, exp Kebeline (2000) 1 Cr App R 275 (reversed on other grounds by the House of Lords at (2000) 1 Cr App R 275). For the interplay of reform and organisational culture within criminal justice agencies, see D Dixon Law in Policing: Legal Regulation and Police Practices (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997).

9. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.)

10. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 39.

11. Criminal Appeal Acts 1964, 1966, 1995 and Criminal Justice Act 1988.

12. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice pp 71, 8.5.

13. At p 40.

14. At p 89.

15. See Criminal Justice Act 1988, s 36.

16. See Crime and Disorder Act 1998, s 81.

17. These are at least accepted as appropriate locations for reform: Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 260.

18. The claim that there is very little attention to this matter in the literature (p 188) can hardly be sustained in the light of the literature cited earlier and the Reports by Lord Justice May: Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the convictions arising out of the bomb attacks in Guildford and Woolwich in 1974, Interim Report (1989-90 HC 556), Second Report (1992-93 HC 296), Final Report (1993-94 HC 449).

19. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 212.

20. At p 217.

21. At p 222. Of course, it faces the risk of failure, especially through inadequate responses to resource shortages: A James N Taylor and C Walker ‘The Criminal Cases Review Commission: economy, effectiveness and justice’ (2000) Crim LR 140.

22. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 223.

23. ‘Silcott bid fails’ The Mirror 19 November 1998, p 11; ‘Silcott won't be freed unless he admits murder’ The Daily Mail 19 November 1998, p 22.

24. The Times 30 June 2000 p 4.

25. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 227.

26. At p 227.

27. At p viii.

28. At p 5.

29. A James ‘An open and shut case? Law as an autopoietic system’ (1992) 19 J Law and Soc 271, 215.

30. See further M King ‘The truth about autopoiesis’ (1993) 20 J Law and Soc 21 8, 229–230.

31. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 6

32. Compare M King ‘The truth about autopoiesis’ (1993) 20 J Law and Soc 218, 224, 227.

33. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 30.

34. See R Reiner ‘Media made criminality’ in M Maguire R Morgan and R Reiner The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd edn, 1997).

35. See further D Jessel ‘The Lund Lecture: television, science and the law’ (1997) 37 Med Sci & L 4.

36. D Jessel Trial and Error (London: Headline, 1994) p 49.

37. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice pp 93, 96.

38. See the cases of Mark Cleary (The Guardian 4 May 1994, p 8) and Sheila Bowler (The Times 6 February 1998, pp 1, 5) in D Jessel Trial and Error (London: Headline, 1994).

39. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice pp 118, 138.

40. At p 83. Authors listed within the media ‘system’ include Michael Mansfield, Lord Hailsham, Sir Frederick Lawton and Lord Chief Justice Taylor (pp 134–141). No doubt many more examples could have been garnered from a reading of law journals and books.

41. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 215.

42. An example might be the impact of Daubert hearings into handwriting identification: US v Paul 175 F 3d 906 (1999).

43. See E Ebsworth ‘The Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners’ (2000) 40 Science & Justice 134.

44. See in relation to law: M McConville A Sanders and R Leng The Case for the Prosecution (London: Routledge, 1991) p 11; D Givelber ‘Meaningless acquittals, meaningful convictions: do we reliably acquit the innocent?’ (1997) 49 Rutgers LR 1317, 1323. In relation to physical science, see: J R Ravetz Scientific Knowledge and its Social Problems (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971); M Mulkay Science and the Sociology of Knowledge (London: Allen & Unwin 1979); S Jasanoff Science at the Bar (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1995); T Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 3rd edn, 1996). The point is briefly recognised: Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 183.

45. According to Sir John May, Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the convictions arising out of the bomb attacks in Guildford and Woolwich in 1974, Final Report (1993-94 HC 449) para 21.28, the truth ultimately remains ‘a matter for the consciences of all those involved’.

46. G Calabresi and P Bobbitt Tragic Choices (New York: Norton, 1978).

47. Above n 46, p 197.

48. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 5.

49. See Ashworth, above n 4.

50. Calabresi and Bobbitt, above n 46, p 62.

51. Above n 46. The prime example of an ‘a responsible agency’ in the criminal justice process is the jury. Similarly, panels akin to juries have sometimes been used to decide medical resource allocations (p 58).

52. Above n 46, p 64.

53. Understanding Miscarriages of Justice p 234.

54. Above n 46, p 248. But compare p 78, where ‘partial’ success of the reforms relating to the reception of fresh evidence is admitted.

55. Slater v HM Advocate 1928 JC 94. See J G Millar Case of Oscar Slater (Cd 7482). (London: HMSO, 1914); W Roughead (ed) Trial of Oscar Slater (Edinburgh: W Hodge, 4th edn, 1930); F Kuppner A Very Quiet Street (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1989); T Toughill Oscar Slater: The Mystery Solved (Edinburgh: Canongate, 1993).

56. See C Walker and K Starmer Miscarriages of Justice (London: Blackstone Press, 1999) ch 16.