<em>Voodoo Liability</em>: Joint Enterprise Prosecution as an Aspect of Intensified Criminalisation
Keywords:
Over-criminalisation, gang related, prosecution, foresight, joint liability, Exceso de criminalización, relacionado con bandas, previsión, responsabilidad conjuntaAbstract
Following the collapse of a number of 'gang-related' prosecutions in England and Wales from the late 1990s, the police and Crown Prosecution Service revived a practice of 'joint enterprise' prosecution. Joint enterprise was a historic common law principle holding co-defendants equally responsible for offences which appeared to evince a common collective purpose. Unfortunately, over time, a combination of (apparently 'wayward') judicial interpretation, and police and prosecutorial practice contributed to a lowering of the threshold of 'joint liability' such that involvement in a gang, and 'bad character' evidence admitted at trial were taken to imply the 'foreseeability' of violent offences. The apparent tendency of the police to over-define criminal activity by young black males as 'gang-related' has led to the construction of a spurious and 'voodoo criminal liability' leading to the intensified criminalisation (over-prosecution and over-incarceration) of young black men. Between the first presentations of the paper and the written version which follows, the law was amended (R v Jogee 2016) but, as will be argued, not in a way which fundamentally changes the construction of 'joint liability' discussed here.
Después del colapso de una serie de procesos relacionados con bandas criminales en Inglaterra y Gales desde finales de los años 90, la policía y el Servicio de Fiscales de la Corona retomaron la práctica de los procesos de "asociaciones criminales". La asociación criminal fue un principio histórico del derecho consuetudinario, que consideraba a los co-demandados responsables al mismo nivel de crímenes que se demostraba respondían a un propósito colectivo común. Por desgracia, a lo largo del tiempo, una combinación de una interpretación jurídica (aparentemente "torpe"), y la práctica policial y fiscal contribuyeron a reducir el umbral de la responsabilidad conjunta, de forma que la implicación en una banda, y un "mal carácter" demostrados en un juicio podrían implicar la "previsión" de delitos criminales. La tendencia aparente de la policía de sobre-definir la actividad criminal de hombres jóvenes negros como "relacionada con una banda" ha llevado a la construcción de una "responsabilidad penal de vudú" que lleva a la intensificación de la criminalización (exceso de procesamiento y de encarcelamiento) de hombres jóvenes negros. Entre las primeras presentaciones del artículo y esta versión escrita, la ley ha cambiado (R v Jogee 2016), pero, como se va a defender, no de forma que cambie fundamentalmente la construcción de la "responsabilidad conjunta" que se analiza aquí.
DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2871266
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