QCCL opposes weakening of double jeopardy rule

QCCL has today restated its opposition to the weakening of the rule against double jeopardy, including the changes introduced by the government yesterday.

QCCL President Michael Cope said today, “The rule against double jeopardy is not a rule designed to protect the guilty but to protect the innocent.”

The prosecution in a criminal case has vastly more resources than the accused and starts from the advantage that many jurors will say “If there was nothing in this case the police would never have brought it.”

The double jeopardy rule was one of the ways the criminal justice system rectified those imbalances in addition to the presumption of innocence and placing the burden on the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

A lot of the impetus for this legislation flows from DNA. But the reality is that DNA cannot be used to determinably prove someone’s guilt.  It can only be used determinably to establish someone’s innocence.

President of the QCCL Mr Cope says “Two wrongs do not make a right any change to the rule runs the risk that both a crime will have been committed and an innocent person is sent to jail.”

The government needs to establish that the present system results in a significant number of false acquittals before significantly increasing the risk of there being more false convictions. QCCL knows of no evidence to support such a claim.

“Wrongful acquittals are quite different from wrongful convictions as they do not involve the unconscionable incarceration of an innocent. And yet the government enacts these laws whilst refusing to introduce a Criminal Cases Review Commission to assess claims of wrongful conviction” said Mr Cope

For further information contact Michael Cope President QCCL on 07 3223 5939 during office hours and at all times on 0432 847 154 

30 November 2023