Bad Character: Criminal Justice Act 2003; Defendant's Previous Convictions; Propensity
| Author | Ben Fitzpatrick |
| DOI | 10.1350/jcla.2006.70.1.6 |
| Published date | 01 February 2006 |
| Date | 01 February 2006 |
| Subject Matter | Court of Appeal |
Court of Appeal
Bad character: Criminal Justice Act 2003; Defendant’s
Previous Convictions; Propensity
R v Hanson [2005] EWCA Crim 824
This was a consolidated case involving three applications for leave to
appeal against conviction.
In January 2005, applicant H was convicted of theft; he had previous
convictions for dishonesty offences.
In February 2005, applicant G was convicted of theft; he had three
previous convictions for shoplifting relating to offences committed
within a six-week period which ended three months before the alleged
commission of the offence charged.
In January 2005, applicant P was convicted on two counts of indecent
assault on a female, and on three counts of rape; he had a previous
conviction, from July 1993, for indecent assault on an 11-year-old girl.
The question in each application was as to the appropriateness of the
use in evidence of those previous convictions under the Criminal Justice
Act 2003 (the 2003 Act), ss 98–113.
Section 101 of the 2003 Act states, inter alia:
(1) In criminal proceedings evidence of the defendant’s bad character is
admissible if, but only if—
...
(d) it is relevant to an important matter in issue between the
defendant and the prosecution . . .
Section 101(1)(d) of the 2003 Act is supplemented by s. 103, which
states:
(1) For the purposes of section 101(1)(d) the matters in issue between
the defendant and the prosecution include—
(a) the question whether the defendant has a propensity to
commit offences of the kind with which he is charged, except
where his having such a propensity makes it no more likely
that he is guilty of the offence;
(b) the question whether the defendant has a propensity to be
untruthful, except where it is not suggested that the defen-
dant’s case is untruthful in any respect.
(2) Where subsection (1)(a) applies, a defendant’s propensity to com-
mit offences of the kind with which he is charged may (without prejudice
to any other way of doing so) be established by evidence that he has been
convicted of—
(a) an offence of the same description as the one with which he
is charged, or
(b) an offence of the same category as the one with which he is
charged.
(3) Subsection (2) does not apply in the case of a particular defendant if
the court is satisfied, by reason of the length of time since the conviction or
for any other reason, that it would be unjust for it to apply in his case.
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