Demystifying injustice: joint enterprise law and miscarriages of justice
This chapter explores a controversial issue, which has come to the forefront of criminological debates since the publication of Power, Crime and Mystification (Box, Power, Crime and Mystification, Routledge, London, 1983)—that of the interpretation and application of ‘Joint Enterprise’ laws in the U...
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
Demystifying power, crime and social harm
Year: 2023, Pages: 481-505 |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Summary: | This chapter explores a controversial issue, which has come to the forefront of criminological debates since the publication of Power, Crime and Mystification (Box, Power, Crime and Mystification, Routledge, London, 1983)—that of the interpretation and application of ‘Joint Enterprise’ laws in the United Kingdom. This chapter is written from the perspective of two leading activists who over the last decade and more have been campaigning for the abolition of this law, the ending of child life sentences and the broader promotion of social justice. Our campaigning has been under the auspices of Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association [JENGbA], which is a grassroots campaign group, founded in 2010 by ourselves, Janet Cunliffe and Gloria Morrison, which aims to combat the widely condemned doctrine of Joint Enterprise (JE) and particularly, Parasitic Accessorial Liability (PAL), a legal term which we will explore in more detail later in the chapter. Joint Enterprise is an everyday phrase to describe the situation where two or more people are convicted for participating in the same crime. Joint Enterprise is policy-driven as part of the tough-on-crime rhetoric pursued by successive governments in the UK for several decades. Yet, until recent years, very few people, including senior MPs and the public more broadly had ever heard of Joint Enterprise. JENGbA aims to both raise awareness of this profoundly unjust law and work towards its abolition and is coordinated and run by family members of those convicted under the doctrine. This chapter has five main parts. First, the chapter outlines three key themes from Power, Crime and Mystification, which will help to contextualise the work of JENGbA and its links with Box’s arguments, which are explored in the following discussion. Second, it provides an overview of the scope and application of the JE laws, noting the ‘usual suspects’ who are prosecuted and punished through the elastic interpretation of this law. Third, there is an account of the formation and ethos of JENGbA [Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association], a grassroots campaign group founded by the two authors to combat the widely condemned doctrine of Joint Enterprise law. Fourth, the chapter will then discuss the legal activism of the group and how JENGbA directly intervened in the case of R v Jogee [2016] UKSC 8, Fifth, the chapter focuses on other important aspects of JENGbA’s campaigning work over the last decade. Here, the chapter outlines some of the strategies and ideas adopted by JENGbA, including their important work challenging the dominant narrative that the Joint Enterprise doctrine is about gangs, ‘broken Britain’ and control of ‘alleged’ feral youth. In closing, the chapter discusses some of the latest campaigns and strategies of JENGbA organising, activism, media work and lobbying and the authors’ hopes and aspirations for a future where the harmful and unjust consequences of joint enterprise laws have been successfully de-mystified and abolished in line with Box’s call for ‘justice for all’. |
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| Item Description: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 503-504 |
| ISBN: | 9783031462122 |