Juries to learn about offenders past
This bothers me somewhat. Apparently, according to Big Blunkett, Juries in child sex abuse and theft cases will soon be entitled to know whether the defendant has convictions for similar offenses.
Superficially, this may seem a good thing. However, on reflection, does this mean that in the event of an offence, Plod will round up the usual suspects and they will be convicted because of their form? Just because someone did it once before, it doesn’t mean they did it this time.
It really is about time our adversarial system was dropped in favour of a search for the truth based upon the evidence presented in this case, not what went before.
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