Book Review: Character Evidence in the Criminal Trial
| Author | Aparna Rao |
| Published date | 01 April 2016 |
| Date | 01 April 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1365712716641034 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
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Redmayne M (2015) Character in the Criminal Trial. Oxford: OUP.
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Sampson RJ and Laub JH (2005) A life course view of the development of crime. Annals American
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Behavior 27(6): 623.
Williams EE (1917) Prisoner’s evidence and previous convictions I. Law Quarterly Review 33: 53.
Zander M and Henderson P (1993) Crown Court Study. Research Study No. 19. London: HMSO.
Jill Hunter
Professor, Law Faculty, UNSW, Australia
Character Evidence in the Criminal Trial. By Mike Redmayne. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. 330 pp,
US$98.50 (hbk). ISBN: 9780199228898.
Since the introduction in December 2004 of the new bad character regime in England and Wales, the
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) has considered ss. 98 to 112 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 in
more than 500 cases.
1
Some of the most intellectually challenging cases have arisen in areas not related
to the defendant’s own character.
2
This provides a rich resource for academic investigation. However,
the wealth of material that fascinates the scholar also creates considerable anxiety in the mind of the
practitioner. Review of a work such as Redmayne’s (which deals with a concept that is frequently
1. According to the reviewer’s own research.
2. For example, RvPhillips [2012] 1 Cr App R 25 (now the leading case on co-defendant bad character evidence); RvBovell and
Dowds [2005] 2 Cr App R 27 (non-defendant bad character evidence); RvSaint [2010] EWCA Crim 1924 (important
explanatory evidence).
172 The International Journal of Evidence & Proof 20(2)
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