The Acquittal Rate Of Professional Criminals: A Critical Note
| Published date | 01 July 1974 |
| Author | J. Baldwin,M. J. McConville |
| Date | 01 July 1974 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1974.tb02392.x |
THE ACQUITTAL RATE
OF
PROFESSIONAL
CRIMINALS: A CRITICAL NOTE
THE jury system,
so
long considered sacrosanct, has been subjected
to
a
critical analysis of unparalleled intensity in recent months. The
report of the Criminal Law Revision Committee on Evidence was
widely held to have betrayed an unjustified lack of confidence in
the jury system.
It
was the effect of their proposals*rather than
the expressed intention of the Committee which was thought to
undermine the jury function.
A
more direct assault came from Sir
Robert Mark in his widely publicised Dimbleby lecture in which
he identified
a
particular failing of the jury in allowing too many
professional criminals to escape conviction. Neither the Committee
nor Sir Robert sought to adduce any empirical evidence to support
their views-indeed such evidence
as
was available seemed hardly
consistent with their thesis.
It
is within this context that Michael
Zander's latest study
of
the acquittal rates of
'(
professional
"
criminals at the Old Bailey and the Inner London Crown Court
is to be welcomed. His main conclusion that professional criminals
arc
less
likely thsn others to be acquitted is of very great signifi-
cance in discussions both of the workings
of
the jury system and
the rules of evidence in the trial process.
It
is
of
equal importance
that his study focuses on the two busiest courts in London, thereby
meeting a criticism levelled against the Oxford study, that it is
confined to an atypical area.
The importance of the subject-matter and the lack of empirical
data in this area makes it all the more regrettable, in our view, that
the data Zander presents fail to support his far-ranging conclusion,
and indeed might be interpreted
as
offering support to the argu-
ments of his opponents.
It
must be stressed at the outset that any
assessment of the value of his research is not helped by the lack of
clarity in the presentation
of
his data
or
his suspect methodology.
In the light of this lack of precision, the following comments can
only be tentative but me intended to clarify some of the issues that
Zander's article raises.
Zander is concerned to test the hypothesis that professional
criminals represent a significant proportion of all acquittcd defen-
dants and that they arc more likely than others to avoid conviction.
1
Criminal
Law
Revision Committee, Eleventh Report,
"
Evidence (General),"
2
Robert
Mark,
"
Minority Verdict,"
The
Listener,
November
8,
1973.
3
Particularly
S.
McCabe and
R.
Purves,
The
Jury
ot
Work,
1972,
Basil
Black.
4
M. Zander, Are
Too
Many Professional !rimhala Avoiding Conviction?-
Cmnd.
4991.
1972.
well: Oxford:,
A
Study
in
Britain's
Two
Busiest
Conrts
(1974)
37
M.L.R.
28.
439
To continue reading
Request your trial