{"id":3736,"date":"2022-10-03T14:39:28","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T13:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humanities-blog\/?p=3736"},"modified":"2022-10-25T13:09:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T12:09:09","slug":"the-innocence-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/humanities-blog\/2022\/10\/03\/the-innocence-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"The Innocence Podcast and The Secret Barrister: Why Miscarriages of Justice are Everyone’s Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Manchester Innocence Project<\/a> is a pro-bono organisation based in the Justice Hub at The University of Manchester.<\/h3>\n

It is a staff-student collaboration aimed at helping the wrongfully convicted and promoting positive change in the justice system. Students have the opportunity to gain a practical insight into the legal system and the unique issues affecting those who suffer a miscarriage of justice.<\/p>\n

The Innocence Podcast\u00a0<\/a>is an award-winning podcast run by the Manchester Innocence Project<\/a>. In its six episodes, Claire McGourlay, Professor of Legal Education at The University of Manchester, examines some of the most well-known and interesting cases of miscarriages of justice and interviews famous exonerees and the people involved in their cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this blog, Claire\u00a0shares her thoughts on a rare interview with The Secret Barrister, a\u00a0whistleblower who has done as much as anyone to expose the shortcomings of the criminal justice system. You can listen to the podcast episode this blog is based on (and every other episode in the series!) at innocence.fm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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More than half a million people follow the Secret Barrister\u2019s online insights into \u201cthe chaotic world of the criminal courts\u201d, but the blogger and author\u2019s identity remains a mystery.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Secret Barrister started off blogging and Tweeting about the disturbing realities of their profession, and is now the author of three bestselling books. For this podcast \u2013 voiced by an actor to protect their identity \u2013 the Secret Barrister talks about the failings in
the justice system that they set out to expose.<\/p>\n

So, why do they think miscarriages of justice happen? The Secret Barrister said: \u201cI think that miscarriages of justice fall into one of two camps: innocent error and malice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe former is probably more common. It includes honest but mistaken eyewitnesses, errors caused by inadequate training of police officers or prosecutors, resource-led failings, incompetent legal representation, mistakes by judges in the way that they direct the jury, or misunderstandings by juries.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then there\u2019s malice; corrupt police officers fitting up a suspect or deliberately destroying unhelpful evidence, false complaints made by vengeful ex-partners, juries or even judges allowing prejudice to influence their treatment of evidence or a defendant. These, in my experience are rare, but they do happen, and the consequences are devastating when they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they say a shortage of criminal lawyers has only made the problem worse, piling pressure on the system, causing cases to be delayed and increasing the likelihood of errors occurring.<\/p>\n

“Mistakes mean more wrongful convictions; something that should concern everyone in society”, says the Secret Barrister, “because none of us are immune to miscarriages of justice. We\u2019re sold the lie that, if you\u2019re a good person, the criminal justice system will never knock on your door. But \u2013 as we see every day in the courts \u2013 that could not be further from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

And even those who are ultimately exonerated can find their life is never the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur system refuses to admit fault. You\u2019ll be released from prison with \u00a340 and simply expected to piece your life back together. We all just pretend it didn\u2019t really happen. Worse still, the Government fairly recently changed the rules governing compensation for the wrongly convicted, making it all but impossible for anybody who\u2019s wrongly imprisoned to receive a penny of compensation. There\u2019s not even an official apology for the state\u2019s error.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what is the answer?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can and should do is ensure that the correctives are in working order,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, we need an appellate system that is open to the possibility of error and the virtue of admitting fault, whereas many criminal lawyers will say that our appeal courts contrive to find ways to uphold convictions, even when there have been obvious flaws in the trial process.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we need to ensure that the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the statutory body that was set up to investigate miscarriages of justice and to refer cases back to the Court of Appeal, is properly resourced to carry out its job. Currently, independent report after independent report reveal that it simply isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can listen to the podcast here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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