Annabelle James

Does the criminal law have a role in the corporate setting

The use of criminal law in the corporate setting has risen in the Corporate Governance agenda in recent months. Compelled by the prosecutions of six former Railtrack plc senior managers, the paper discusses the relevance of criminal law as a disciplining force on directors and managers. The paper provides a detailed case study of Railtrack plc drawing out the major issues of relevance in applying the criminal law to a large complex company such as Railtrack plc.

Miscarriages of Justice in the 21st Century

This article looks at the extent to which the author feels that the criminal justice process of the 21st century is equipped to deal with miscarriages of justice. Starting with an outline description of the changes to the law and the CCRC itself followed by a brief evaluation of the CCRCs work to date, the article then deals with human rights issues, assessing the potential impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the corresponding duties incumbent on public authorities such as the CCRC and the Court of Appeal, and addresses the extent to which the identifying and processing of miscarriages of justice will change as a result. The article concludes with the view that whilst there has, on paper at least, been a change for the better, in reality little has changed.

Murder; Manslaughter: Alternative Verdicts: R v Coutts [2006] UKHL 39

This was an appeal to the House of Lords following the decision of the Court of Appeal not to quash the appellant’s conviction for murder. The 31-year-old victim had been strangled with a pair of tights. Her body had then been kept in a storage unit for several weeks before it was found, badly burned, in woodland. The appellant had been convicted of murder. His contention was that the victim had died during consensual asphyxial sexual intercourse during a sex game. The prosecution argued the case on the basis of intentional killing. At the time, both defence and prosecution counsel were of the view that it would not be in the interests of justice to leave the offence of manslaughter to the jury, the appellant preferring to take his chances with a ‘murder or nothing’ verdict rather than accepting the strong possibility of a manslaughter conviction. Following his conviction, the appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that an alternative verdict of manslaughter should have been left to the jury. This argument was rejected on the grounds that the suggested alternative verdict was incompatible with the arguments being put forward at trial and to allow the jury to consider the alternative verdict would complicate matters unduly and would not enhance the interests of justice. On appeal to the House of Lords the appellant argued that the alternative count should have been left to the jury even though it had not been raised by counsel for either side as there was credible evidence to support a manslaughter verdict. HELD, ALLOWING THE APPEAL AND REMITTING THE CASE TO THE COURT

Video Games: Some Pitfalls of Video Evidence

CCTV evidence is regularly employed in criminal cases, yet there has been relatively little consideration of the manner in which such evidence is collected and subsequently handled. The use of CCTV evidence raises issues of disclosure, data protection and human rights, all of which have a far-reaching impact not only on the accused but also on others who find themselves recorded by surveillance systems. In addition, much of the video evidence collected during criminal investigations comes from third parties, such as shops and commercial premises, which are outside the direct control of the police. This only serves to compound the difficulty of managing such material within the investigative and trial processes.