EDM 160: The Legal Dragnet Joint Enterprise Report

That this House welcomes the publication of The Legal Dragnet, by Nisha Waller and the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, which highlights the risk posed by ambiguous legislation on joint enterprise and makes a case for creating a safer framework for prosecution; further welcomes the stated ambition of the Government, while in opposition, to reform the law on joint enterprise; notes the Lord Chancellor’s acknowledgment that joint enterprise is an issue of concern to Members of this House; notes with alarm Crown Prosecution Service data that Black people are disproportionately prosecuted under joint enterprise; further notes with alarm that this new report highlights how there has been no discernible impact on the number of joint enterprise prosecutions since the 2016 Supreme Court ruling that the law had been wrongly implemented for more than 30 years; agrees with the report that the scope of joint enterprise should be narrowed to create a safer framework for prosecution and greater consistency and fairness in outcomes; further agrees that alongside legal reform, wider work must be done to challenge racialised and overzealous police and prosecution practices with respect to joint enterprise; and calls on the Government to request a Law Commission review of joint enterprise, with a view to narrowing the scope of current legislation and providing a safer framework for prosecution and sentencing.