On The Eve Of The 25Th Anniversary Of The Stephen Lawrence Killing Yet Another Black Lad Is Killed In London, I Wonder If Kwesi Will Be So Remembered In 25 Years Time?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5642689/Smiley-fun-20-year-old-stabbed-death-fight-broke-house-party-London.html

[vetuste_ennemi]

[i] célèbre [i]

[Khandro]

I think the accents are confusing the poor machine, I'll try without them, or it could be the way you're holding you tongue
cause celebre

[vetuste_ennemi]

(I 'm using Alt + numeric keypad to enter the diacritics. Where's Buenchico when you need him?)

[Jackdaw33]

I agree with NJ. There was a defence in law, not often used, of 'Autrefois convict' or 'Autrefois acquit'.

[Jackdaw33]

As to italics in AB, just don't bother. They only work once per post and any diacritics or subscripts disable the facility. I just use capitals for emphasis. The AB team missed a trick when revamping the site by not upgrading it to incorporate bold, underline and italics.

[Spicerack]

Khandro/// I can still see those cocky bar stewards strutting down that gangway to freedom with guilt writ large hanging over them.///

And that^ is exactly why the state shouldn't be given multiple goes at convicting people. (even cocky bar stewards who 'got off' with murder)

[vetuste_ennemi]

I understand NJ's arguments for the double jeopardy principle and his insistence that we ought not make exceptions to it even in the circumstances of the Stephen Lawrence case.

But new evidence - as in my DNA/Hanratty example - could reveal a miscarriage of justice - like a guilty man has got off with murder.

Do we have another go at the guy or not? Double jeopardy and NJ say no. This would be consistent with the famous Blackstone formulation from the 18th century: "it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer". There's a real point here, but Blackstone's use of arithmetic reduces it to absurdity: you can ensure the protection of the innocent by acquitting all, or, more simply, prosecuting nobody, thereby serving the needs both of economy and of justice as defined by Blackstone.

But turning my example around, if an innocent Hanratty had been jailed for life rather than hanged, then subsequent DNA evidence proving he wasn't the rapist and murderer would have secured his release, yes?

[waterboatman]

You mean like this?

[vetuste_ennemi]

No, like that

[Garaman]

I am pleased to see the end of the double jeopardy law. It is now up to the authorities to ensure that there are sufficient grounds for a retrial, as indeed it should have always been. We shouldn’t have needed a law, which would prevent a retrial when new evidence was available, just to 'concentrate the minds of prosecutors'. Given the few retrials there have been since the law was dropped, it was clearly the right decision.