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Vol. 80/No. 13 April 4, 2016
UK fight wins limits on ‘guilt by association’ frame-ups
BY CATHARINA TIRSÉN
MANCHESTER, England — In a victory for working people, the U.K. Supreme
Court ruled Feb. 18 that the controversial “joint enterprise” law had
been “wrongly interpreted” for the last 30 years. In the name of
fighting “gang violence,” the 300-year-old legal doctrine has been
increasingly used over the last decade to prosecute individuals for
homicide just for being present or being associated with the killer.
Since 2010 the group Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association has held
meetings, protests outside Parliament and political conventions and
given countless interviews. JENGbA is in contact with families of more
than 600 people convicted under this law.
“My son Jordan’s case will be even stronger with this ruling, when the
Criminal Cases Review Commission decides whether he is entitled to an
appeal,” said Janet Cunliffe, a founder of JENGbA, at a Militant Labour
Forum here March 5. Jordan Cunliffe was convicted of murder at the age
of 15 and sentenced to life, with a minimum of 12 years in prison
followed by lifelong parole. He was with a group of friends in 2007 when
a street altercation led to one person being killed.
“I could not understand how my son, who was legally blind, could have
had ‘foresight’ that someone else would kill the victim, or even that
such ‘foresight’ would be enough to condemn anyone for murder,” she said.
Under the Supreme Court decision, to convict a person under joint
enterprise the prosecution now must prove they had “intention to assist
or encourage the crime.”
Despite crime going down, there are more people in prison convicted of
murder, noted Janet Cunliffe. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
estimates that between 1,800 and 4,590 people were prosecuted for murder
using the joint enterprise law between 2005 and 2013.
“I want to pay tribute to what Janet and JENGbA have achieved,” said
Peter Clifford, Communist League candidate for Manchester City Council,
who joined her on the platform. “It took a lot of courage to stand up
against the media that painted the youths as a ‘gang of murderers.’”
Clifford pointed to the newly published book The Cuban Five Talk About
Their Lives Within the US Working Class: “It’s the Poor Who Face the
Savagery of the US ‘Justice’ System.” As the title says, the courts and
prisons “are not about justice or fighting crime, they’re about pushing
working people back,” he said. Clifford noted how Janet Cunliffe and
other JENGbA campaigners have offered solidarity to other fights against
police killings and unfair convictions, including the case of the Cuban
Five, revolutionaries who spent up to 16 years in U.S. prisons on
frame-up charges.
“My son has been protected inside by other prisoners because they
thought the verdict was so unfair,” Cunliffe said. “And Jordan has
received so many good letters from all over the world, from Texas to
Australia.”
“I have learnt about a different world through this campaign,” she
continued. “I used to believe the system was just. But I see now how
people can end up in prison. And they are workers!” Like in the United
States, “prisoners work here too, but they earn only about £9 ($13) a
week. It is really a system of slave labor! I know they make DFS sofas
and parts for ‘Boris’ Bikes,’” she said, referring to rental bikes named
after London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Clifford pointed to how the case of Stephen Lawrence, a Black youth who
was killed by a racist gang in 1993, has been used to justify the use of
joint enterprise and undermine other legal protections. Two people
accused of being gang members were initially acquitted, but tried a
second time and convicted 19 years later. That was an attack on rights
of all working people,” he said.
“Now we need to campaign so people who have been wrongfully convicted
get the hearings so the convictions can be overturned,” said Janet
Cunliffe. “It is almost impossible to get any compensation if you have
been the victim of a miscarriage of justice, and the process takes time.
I expect Jordan will serve his 12 years. But I want him and others to
come out with their names cleared.”
Related articles:
Calif. marchers denounce brutal cops in ‘deadliest county’ in US
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