Miscarriages of Justice:
(1) BIRMINGHAM SIX - bar blown up in Birmingham in 1975; convicted of murder, life imprisonment; no leave before 1987 by CoA; dismissed; 1988 HoL: no leave to appeal; 1991 CoA quashed convictions
(2) GUILDFORD FOUR - bar blown up in Guildford, 5 dead, eventuall released in 1991
(3) MAGUIRE SEVEN - Irish family; "handling bombs for Guildford Four"; released in 1991
(4) JUDITH WARD (1974) - British Army bus blown up on M-62; 12 soldiers dead; told stories to police ("I did it"); eventually gave it up, but claimed responsibility for Latimer attack; she was nuts, as examined by Dr. Lawson ("mentally unstable - Psychotic Depression ? unfit to plead) ? this only the prosecution knew; eventually convicted; conviction quashed by CoA in 1992; had been prosecuted by Taylor who later became Q.C. and LCJ

Runciman Commission (Royal Commision on Criminal Justice): The commission had looked at:
(1) The pre-trial phase (problems: adversarial system, police work, disclosure of evidence).
(2) Trial phase (problems: adversarial system, jury).
(3) Post-trial phase (problems: leave needed for appeal, CoA only examines transcript).

Proposals of the Runciman Commission
(1) Establishment of a Judicial Officer who supervises pre-trial phase independently - not followed.
(2) Tape recording - introduced.
(3) no more jury trials in triable-either-way cases (no more right to choose) - not followed.
(4) Introduction of a "Court of Review" as a review authority for criminal cases - not yet followed.

Against the commission’s recommendations, the right of silence has been restricted (remaining silent can now be used against the defendent).

The jury: 12 citizens from 18-70 years, 2 weeks to open end, paid 25 pounds a day; must not have legal knowledge (lay institution);

Unlike in America, no jury vetting (examination); instead random jury selection by electoral register. Challenges to the jury: Right to stand by for the Crown (the prosecution can ask for a juror to be removed without giving any reason in order to have "reserve jurors" - prosecution can effectively remove jurors), Challenge for Cause (Defense can ask for biased jurors to be removed - difficult because virtually no questions are allowed); Hung jury - retrial with different jury. Until 1967 unanimous decision, now 10 out of 12.

In 25 % of acquittals, judge thought differently; in 5 % of convictions judge thought differently. Stalemates = deadlock. 94 % of all trials go to Magistrates Court and in Crown Ct., 75 % of all defendents plead guilty; this means that only 1.5 % of all trials are by jury.

Herbert Packer: CJS is either "due-process-model" or "crime-control-model".

Plea-Bargaining: The process whereby a defendant agrees to plead guilty to a charge in return for some sort of advantage such as a lower sentence.