Double Jeopardy laws under scrutiny

11/4/03
Attorneys General from across Australia will grapple with one of the hottest topics on the legal agenda when they meet in Melbourne today - double jeopardy.
Western Australian Attorney General Jim McGinty said there was increasing concern about the potential for serious injustice to occur under Australia's long-standing double jeopardy laws.
These prevent people who have been acquitted of a crime from being tried again - even when new and compelling evidence of their guilt emerges.
The Attorneys will consider whether the law should be reviewed.
"It is something we need to look at in detail, particularly in light of the Raymond Carroll case in Queensland," Mr McGinty said.
Carroll was convicted in 1985 of the murder of a 17-month-old child but later acquitted by the Queensland Court of Appeal. Since then, new evidence had become available but double jeopardy laws prevented fresh murder charges being laid.
"The Carroll case is one which sends chills down your spine," Mr McGinty said.
"It lends considerable weight to calls for the law to be changed, particularly when public confidence in the criminal justice system is at stake.
"At the same time, we need to weigh up why double jeopardy laws exist, such as the need to ensure people cannot be unfairly harassed by repeated prosecutions about the same issue, and the need to provide certainty in the justice system."
Mr McGinty said some countries had already moved to provide exceptions to double jeopardy, including the UK, which allowed for an acquittal to be set aside and a person retried if the acquittal was found to be tainted.
"The circumstances which might lead to an acquittal being tainted are fairly limited and the UK Law Commission has recommended further reform, but it shows it is possible to make exceptions to double jeopardy," he said.
"I don't expect the issue to be resolved overnight but there is clearly a strong push for reform of the double jeopardy laws and I expect there will be considerable support amongst my counterparts for a thorough review of current laws.
"My personal view is that the risk of real injustice to victims of the most serious crimes such as murder and rape must outweigh virtually all other considerations."
Attorney General's office: 9220 5000