Joint enterprise law ‘overused and misused’ against black men

Joint enterprise has existed for centuries. It allows a person to be jointly convicted of another person’s crime, if they knew it was going to happen or if they actively participated or contributed. Although it has helped bring families justice, it is a controversial legal concept that has long been criticised for its disproportionate use specifically against young black men.

New research shared exclusively with Channel 4 News, shows the law is being used inappropriately, with a clear tendency to overcharge black men aged 25 and under.

The study, by the legal charity APPEAL, monitored joint enterprise trials at the Old Bailey over a six-month period. One of the trials saw seven black teenage boys charged with murder following a fatal stabbing at a party in a park. The prosecution alleged that one of the seven carried out the stabbing and that the other six encouraged or assisted by being present somewhere in the park. The case relied on the fact the boys had travelled to the party together.

Keir Monteith KC, of Garden Court Chambers, represented one of the defendants. He says the case is unlike any he’s worked on before: “What was unique was the absolute absence of evidence that any of the other people who weren’t involved in the stabbing were assisting or encouraging the murder. There was nothing, as far as I was concerned, that supported that suggestion.”

The trial lasted four months and concluded this February. One of the boys was found guilty of murder. The other six were acquitted on all charges. Pearls Wisdom’s son was one of them. By the time he was released, he had spent 15 months in custody.

She says: “It’s still traumatic. When I hear car doors banging, I try not to panic or fret, but I do because I’m thinking, what now? What is it? Have they come back again? What for? Because what people don’t seem to understand, joint enterprise is so easy to get caught up in. It’s so easy.”

Suggestions that the law is being used too broadly are backed up by APPEAL’s research. More than a third of the cases in the study saw no convictions at all for the most serious charge on the indictment – murder or attempted murder. Across all 17 trials that were monitored, a cumulative total of 19 years was served by individuals who weren’t convicted of any offence or sentenced to custody.

The research was led by Dr Nisha Waller, Racial Justice Lead at APPEAL. She says: “The law of joint enterprise should be used when somebody knows a crime is going to take place, or a crime is taking place, and then they actively participate and contribute to that crime. And what we found is that it’s simply not being used in that way”.

“The individuals who are making decisions about who to prosecute and who to charge. They view young black people in particular through the lens of gangs. They view them as more likely to be gang members and therefore more likely to be involved.”

In response, the Crown Prosecution Service told Channel 4 News:

“If a person assists or encourages another to commit a violent crime, they can face prosecution and punishment for their involvement.

“Ultimately prosecutors must prove to a jury beyond reasonable doubt that each defendant played a part and is therefore guilty of a crime. They do this by using all available evidence to piece together each defendant’s role in a crime. A central thread of fairness runs through how we look at these cases.

“We choose the right charges for the right people based on the evidence in front of us. We look objectively at the evidence before making our own decisions.

“The CPS carefully monitors joint enterprise prosecutions, with senior legal oversight over every case to ensure that our approach is fair and proportionate.”