Claims cuts to legal aid has led to 'broken' criminal justice system
A project which helps people across the UK who claim they have been wrongly convicted of crimes claim the criminal justice system is "broken".
The Cardiff Innocence Project said cuts to legal aid and a lack of proper defence for the accused is a "recipe for miscarriage of justice".
One of the project's clients, Betty*, said her husband was convicted of a crime she believes he did not commit.
"While I was sure that the outcome would have been a positive one, because we had so much evidence to offer, for some unknown reason the barrister acting on my husband's behalf failed to produce any of the evidence that we provided… Everything the accuser said in court was taken as gospel, there was no written evidence, no physical evidence, just one word against the other."
Betty said at one point she considered selling her family home and relocating because of the stigma attached to what she and her husband went through.
"It’s been absolutely devastating. I compare it to I guess, a family bereavement. And it’s thanks to the amazing support of family and friends that we are getting through these dark days.
"The system is unjust due to the financial constraint that so many of us struggle with. My husband was lucky enough to receive legal aid for his appearance in court, but the service he was given did not meet the standard you would expect under the circumstances. I do believe if you were a paying customer the service would have been a lot more thorough."
Betty contacted the Cardiff Innocence Project to see if they could help her husband’s case.
"It gives me a little hope. They were listening to me. I just didn't feel that anybody listened from the start."
Some clients like Betty said they are concerned that a proper defence is now only an option for the wealthy.
Law professionals are calling for legal aid cuts to be reversed and an inquiry is currently ongoing.
Dr Holly Greenwood started working with the university Innocence Project when she was a student and now continues to do so as a lecturer. She said: "Lawyers are so busy and stretched as it is not helped obviously, by the pandemic, which has caused a huge backlog of cases. But even before that, due to legal aid cuts and increasing pressure, they just don't have a huge amount of time...
"We like to think that miscarriages of justice are rare but I think due to the crisis in legal aid funding that’s not allowing the defence to put forward a strong case, there’s probably a risk there are a lot of innocent people in prison who aren’t able to access justice."
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “There is no evidence to support these claims.” And that fewer than one in 100 legal aid cases were rejected in the year to September 2020.
Dr Dennis Eady, who has worked with the project since 2009, said the team gets around one letter a week from somebody wanting their assistance.
"We've got a waiting list of cases so we always start out by telling people to get proper legal advice, if they can, as this is going to be very difficult. The appeal system is very, very restrictive."
Dr Eady said in the vast majority of their cases, they do not know whether the client is innocent or guilty. But the team will study each case in detail to see if there are grounds for an appeal.
"The criminal justice process now it's become very basic, trials are really quite short. Often, there are no defence witnesses at all apart from possibly the defendant themselves. So there really isn't any defence at all. And of course, the consequences are catastrophic...
"You cannot mount a defence apart from saying, 'well, I'm sorry, but it didn't happen.' That is a very, very thin basis on which to found a system of justice."
The CPS said Crown Prosecutors must be satisfied there is enough evidence to provide a "realistic prospect of conviction" against each suspect on each charge.
Additionally, the JUSTICE organisation said that black, Asian and minority ethnic young people are disproportionately represented in the justice system.
A 2017 review, commissioned by David Cameron, found that black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals "face bias, including overt discrimination, in parts of the justice system".
The Lammy Review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals in the criminal justice system found for every 100 white men convicted of public order offences, there were 417 black men and 631 Asian men convicted. It also found that of those charged, 163 black women were tried at the Crown Court for every 100 white women. And at the Magistrates’ Court, black women, Asian women and mixed-race women were all more likely to be convicted than white women.
At the time, the director of public prosecutions said she would consider the report's recommendations.
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Cardiff University's Innocence Project has had two successes since its creation. In 2014, Dwaine George's murder conviction was overturned after nine years of working with staff, students and experts. Four years later, Gareth Jones' conviction was overturned at the Court of Appeal following a six-year investigation.
Dr Greenwood said: "There haven't been any other Innocence Projects that have had success as of yet in the UK, which I think just demonstrates how difficult it is."
The Ministry of Justice said it provides funding to investigate miscarriages of justice and also operates a compensation scheme for those found to have been wrongfully convicted.
A spokesperson said: "There has been no reduction in the burden of proof in criminal trials and to suggest otherwise is nonsense.”
The spokesperson added that “the right to appeal is a central pillar of our justice system.”
*Betty's name has been changed.