Members of the APPG continue to raise specific issues and apply pressure on the government through Parliamentary questions and debates. This page contains relevant questions from Members of Parliament both that are members of the APPG, and those who are not members.
Below are Parliamentary written questions regarding miscarriages of justice which have been tabled by MPs, sorted by topic. An up-to-date list of all written questions can be found here.
22nd June 2022 Barry Sheerman MP asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Law Commission’s discussion paper, entitled Criminal Liability: Insanity and Automatism, published on 23 July 2013, if his Department will conduct a review into the use of automatism as a legal defence.
Yet to be answered.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 20 June 2022 to Question 17873 on Criminal Liability, for what reasons his Department has no plans to bring forward reform to the use of automatism as a legal defence.
Yet to be answered.
14th June 2022 Barry Sheerman MP asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to reconsider the recommendations in the Law Commission’s report, Criminal Liability: Insanity and Automatism, published in 2013.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
1st June 2022 Dan Carden MP asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the cost of keeping official statistics on the number of convictions that rely on the law of joint enterprise.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
25th May 2022 Alex Cunningham MP asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans to undertake an audit of the use of parasitic assessorial liability in convictions secured before 2016 to assess the (a) scope and (b) consequences of its application during the period the Supreme Court decided the law had been misapplied.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
19th May 2022 Barry Sheerman MP asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has plans to reform the use of automatism as a legal defence.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to ensure that road crash victims and their families receive adequate compensation and support following a successful defence of automatism.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
To ask the Attorney General, how many people the CPS has acquitted on the defence of automatism in England and Wales as of 19th May 2022.
See the answer from Alex Chalk MP here.
17th May 2022 Barry Sheerman MP asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the rate of miscarriages of justice in relation to convictions under Joint Enterprise.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
16th May 2022 Barry Sheerman MP asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans does he have to ensure the protection of autistic and other neuro-diverse people in the justice system as it relates to Joint Enterprise convictions.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to reform the criminal law doctrine of Joint Enterprise.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have had their convictions under Joint Enterprise overturned since 2010.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Joint Enterprise as a doctrine of criminal law.
See the answer from James Cartlidge MP here.
APPG Miscarriages of Justice 