Contents

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JCL 67 (2003) 220

Compensating the wrongfully convicted
Nick Taylor 

This article outlines the two schemes currently in operation for compensating victims of miscarriages of justice, namely the statutory scheme under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, s. 133, and the ex gratia scheme operated by the Home Office. It outlines and evaluates the operation of the schemes and considers the effect of recent case law. Finally, it considers the inability of a purely monetary scheme to provide meaningful compensation and considers how a recent Home Office initiative with the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux might produce a more holistic approach to compensation.

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JCL 67 (2003) 237

Provocation: the ongoing subservience of principle to tradition
Luke Neal and Mirko Bagaric 

The defence of provocation has been highly criticised. Most commentators argue that the defence is misguided. There does not appear to be any community pressure to preserve the defence. Despite this, legislatures are reluctant to abolish provocation as a partial defence to murder. This article examines the underlying rationale for the defence. It concludes that the defence is founded on a flawed assumption about human nature—that people are captive to some of their emotional states. It is also argued that the convoluted and confusing (if not confused) test for provocation is evidence of the unsound nature of the defence—it is simply a case of not being able to develop a feasible (and candid) principle for a doctrine that is devoid of a sound justification.

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JCL 67 (2003) 257

Successful sentencing appeals-an analysis
Paul Robertshaw 

This article considers successful appeals against sentence from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal 1996–2002. After weighting for caseload volume it became apparent that there was a wide range in the success rates between courts; also variation in the rate of reduction of incarceration. Within this framework individual (unnamed) judges were considered. The typical judge had one appeal against sentence upheld against him during the six years, but 45 had between one per year and eight per year. The impact of these judges on their courts’ appeal rate was analysed. Comparison was made between 'severe’ judges and other judges in relation to four types of offence. Attention is drawn to the problem of information and monitoring of this aspect of judicial practice.

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Links to other issues

Volume 65 (2001) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 66 (2002) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 67 (2003) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 68 (2004) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 69 (2005) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 70 (2006) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 71 (2007) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 72 (2008) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 73 (2009) :   1   2   3   4   6

Volume 74 (2010) :   1   2   3   4

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