WHY DO MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE OCCUR? HOW CAN THEY BE PREVENTED?

Authors Avatar

Gillian Waters 07019416

WHY DO MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE OCCUR? HOW CAN THEY BE PREVENTED?

The British legal system is like any other legal system in the world, subject to miscarriages of justice.  There have been many cases, worldwide, where a miscarriage of justice has taken place, including that of the Cardiff three, wrongly imprisoned for four years for the murder of Lynnette White.  The Birmingham six, who spent sixteen years in prison, convicted of killing twenty-one people in two pub bombings.  The M25 three, charged with murder and robbery.  Cardiff Newsagent three, imprisoned for eleven years before they were acquitted of the murder of a newsagent.  Stefan Kiszko, spent sixteen years in prison for the murder of a young girl.  David Milgaard, sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a twenty year old nurse. This essay will attempt to explain the reasons why these miscarriages of justice, plus many more have taken place, and how they can be prevented in the future.  

There are several factors that lead to a miscarriage of justice; these are unfair and oppressing conduct of the police, falsification of evidence, non-disclosure of evidence, mistaken identity, whether deliberate, or accidental, and unreliable confessions due to police pressure or psychological instability.  They are all considered unjust as they infringe the principle of justice, and lead to the wrongly accused suspects being unfairly imprisoned, with the rightful criminal escaping punishment.  However, as a consequence of such cases, and a growing mistrust of the legal system, the due process model was introduced and the Human Rights Act 1998.  Despite this model, and the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, there still seems to be major problems with our criminal justice system, as opposed to wrongful convictions.

The criminal investigation conducted by police officers bears a lot of the blame to miscarriages of justice.  This could be due to many factors, for instance, pressure from their superiors to close a case, or maybe a dishonest officer hoping for a promotion “there are still corrupt police around who will do anything to further their own ends.  It is, therefore sadly inevitable that there will be further miscarriages of justice” Morrell (1999).  The officers in charge of these investigations were very often seen to treat the suspects unjustly, and inhumane in an attempt to extract a confession.  The type of strategies used by these officers usually included beating them, leaving them for hours without food or water, not letting them rest, and other forms of atrocious misconduct, as Michael O’Brien, who is one of the Cardiff three that served eleven years in prison, for a murder he did not commit, reveals “they handcuffed me to radiators.  Hot radiators.  And once to a table.”  O’Brien (2008).  The officers also tend to bully the suspects, as in the case of Stefan Kiszko, who was convicted of murdering a young girl in 1976, even though the police knew it was impossible that he committed the crime due to him being impotent, they pressed, and bullied him into confessing to the police, but he later states, “ the confession had been bullied out of him but was convicted for murder and jailed for life” (Guardian Unlimited 12 November 2007).  He was later released and acquitted of all charges by the appeal court after spending sixteen years in prison.

Join now!

In the case of the Cardiff Three, in 1990 they were convicted of the murder.  The appeal was based on confession evidence and whether or not it was admissible due to oppression.  It is oppressive for interviewing officers to shout, bully, and intimidate the suspect in interview.  An interview obtained in oppressive circumstances was deemed unreliable and not admissible.  The main evidence against him was his confession evidence, which was ruled admissible at trial.  Two other defendants, Abdullahi and Paris were implicated by Miller’s confession, and later convicted of murder.  All three appealed on the ground that the confession ...

This is a preview of the whole essay