Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Andrew Little
,
Horace Rumpole
,
Labour Party
,
Presumption of innocence
,
Rape
,
Reversed burden of proof
,
Sexual abuse
DPF blogs:
This is a major policy by Labour, that has had very little attention. It is now Labour Party policy that you have to prove your innocence if accused of rape.
Andrew Little said on the 2nd of July:“A better measure would be to hand control of all examination of a victim to the judge with lawyers for both sides notifying the court which issues they want dealt with, along with shifting the burden of proof on the issue of consent to the defence.This means that if two people have sex, and one person accuses the other of rape, then the accused must prove beyond reasonable doubt they had consent.
Now you might think this is just Andrew Little musing aloud. Not so. He confirms in this tweet it is official policy.
The post then goes on to say this:
Andrew Little says:“This approach does not contradict the fundamental principle that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty – the basic facts of the case still have to be made out – but it does mean the prosecution doesn’t need to prove a negative, namely that there was no consent.This is sophistry. If the act of sex is not disputed, just consent, then the defendant does have to prove themselves innocent.
I wonder how many hours it will take until Labour does a u-turn on their policy, once people realise its implications.
Rape is a terrible crime, and the court process is very hard on many victims, and I am sure it can be improved. But reversing the presumption of innocence and burden of proof is not the answer.
We agree with DPF; rape is abhorrent. A close family member was a rape victim a number of years ago, so this is an issue we have particularly strong feelings about.
The judicial system is far from perfect for the victims of sexual abuse and rape. But we are sure there are other ways to improve the system than by reversing the burden of proof, and requiring alleged offenders to prove their innocence if an allegation is made against them.
If this is indeed official Labour Party policy, and not just a kite-flying exercise by Andrew Little it is one occasion where a policy u-turn would be welcomed, and most certainly not mocked by this blog.
John Mortimer's fictional but lifelike character Horace Rumpole refers to the presumption of innocence as the "golden thread" of the criminal justice system. Whatever changes are made within the system to make it better for the victims of sexual offences, reversing the burden of proof should not be one of them, and any suggestions of that must be vigorously opposed.
