Free Law Dissertations - 1.introduction This Assignment Will Consider The Impact That The Criminal
1.Introduction
This assignment will consider the impact that the Criminal Justice Act 2003 has had on the area of criminal evidence. It will first deal with the circumstances in which the court may hear evidence of the accused’s character in a criminal trial, considering the impact that the Criminal Justice Act 2003 has had on this area. The next two sections will deal with two particular scenarios in which the act can be utilised. It will deal with the circumstances in which evidence of character can be adduced and demonstrate exactly how it is used in order to admit such evidence. These scenarios will also aim to demonstrate exactly how the new rules differ from the old rules.
2.Development of the Common Law
There are many ways in which similar fact evidence and evidence of character can be admitted and it is important to consider the common law development of these rules before considering the new codified principles set out in the Criminal Evidence Act 2003. The principle of similar fact evidence was recognized first in Makin v. Attorney General for New South Wales were Lord Herschell established that as a rule similar fact evidence would not be admissible. He stated, however that in exceptional circumstances this principle could be overruled and such circumstances would arise if it was relevant and probative. Makin and the case of R v Smith allowed similar fact evidence to be admitted on the basis that the probative power of the similar fact evidence outweighed the prejudicial effect to the defendant on the basis that it was highly improbable that the strikingly similar facts had any other logical explanation other than the guilt of the accused. The principle was extend to include strikingly similar allegations when Lord Denning in the case of R v Sims, considered that allegations of buggery made by three different men should be admitted into the same trial in support of each other.
DPP v Boardman saw the return of the procedural safeguards and sought to bring the law back into line. The test for allowing such similar fact evidence to be admitted, according to the House of Lords decision in DPP was to balance the probative value of the evidence against the prejudicial effect of such evidence may have on the accused.In summation if the evidence was so weak, defective or tainted that its probative value was outweighed by its ability to influence a jury then it should be debarred
The House of Lords considered that the emphasis should be once again placed upon striking similarities being present as between the inadmissible evidence and the facts in the case in question. Indeed the House of Lords considered that this should be extended to include allegations that were strikingly similar as well as previous convicted offences.
In DPP v P Lord Mackay discarded the prerequisite that allegations, in order to be admissible, should be ‘strikingly similar’.
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