Long Walk to Justice

Issues LONG WALK TO JUSTICE A number of high-profile cases have again raised questions about how often our justice system may be convicting innocent people. As calls increase to establish an independent commission to investigate wrongful convictions in New Zealand, Mike White travels to the UK to gauge the success of similar bodies there. “I think of the criminal justice system as a dreary casino where the quest for justice is a roll of the die that comes up craps as often as not.” Bob Herbert, New York Times columnist n March 14, 1991, a group of men emerged from London’s OOld Bailey and faced a pha- lanx of reporters. Their mood was a mix of jubilation and rage. They were the so-called Birmingham Six, Irishmen arrested in November 1974 for planting two bombs that went off minutes apart in Birmingham pubs, killing 21 people and injuring 182. After they were convicted, evidence emerged of faulty scientific testimony, mock executions being used to extort confessions, and police corruption, which eventually resulted in CORBIS their release that spring afternoon. One ABOVE: Paddy Hill speaks to the crowd after the Birmingham Six were freed in 1991. of them, Paddy Hill, grabbed the micro- phone. He was a short man and gave a OPPOSITE PAGE: Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four, leaves London’s short speech that now sits in history as Old Bailey with his sisters in 1989. Conlon was convicted of IRA bombings and spent 15 years in jail before it was revealed police had fabricated one of the most cogent and scathing con- evidence. His story was made into the movie In the Name of the Father, demnations of the justice system. and the case led to major changes in the British justice system. “For 16 and a half years we have been GETTY MIKE WHITE IS A NORTH & SOUTH SENIOR WRITER. PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIKE WHITE AND GETTY. 62 | NORTH & SOUTH | MARCH 2015 NORTH & SOUTH | MARCH 2015 | 63 admit the system they are responsible for bungled things? Thus, it’s under- standable if prisoners have little confidence their case will be reconsidered objectively and don’t even apply. Critics of the current system argue an independent body with wide powers to reinvestigate cases would offer a much better chance of uncovering miscarriages of justice. More important, it would give the public far greater confidence that the justice system is working. Ever since the Arthur Thomas case in the 1970s, where police planted evidence to convict an innocent man, it has been clear our justice system doesn’t always get it right. In 2006, retired judge Sir Thomas Thorp suggested up to 20 innocent people were in New GETTY Zealand jails. He later suggested this was an understatement. BEFORE AND AFTER: The Birmingham Six after their arrest (above) BROKEN MAN: Paddy Hill as he is today. He wipes a tear as the coffin and (right) ) after being beaten by police to extract false of Gerry Conlon is carried into St Peter’s Cathedral for a requiem The cases of David Dougherty, Aaron confessions. Paddy Hill is in the middle of the top row above. mass last year in Belfast. Conlon died, aged 60, of cancer in June. Farmer, Jaden Knight and Phillip Johnston – all wrongly imprisoned – are proof police and courts do get it wrong. The high-profile cases of David Bain and there is a “real possibility” the convic- then sends it back to the Governor- Rex Haig, whose convictions for murder tion will be quashed, which effectively General, who rubber stamps the bu- were quashed, have further reinforced sees the CCRC second-guessing how reaucrats’ recommendations. While the concerns about flaws in our justice the Court of Appeal will act. Governor-General can issue a pardon system. used as political scapegoats, by people sion believed a mistake had been made, convictions have been overturned. Two years after England implement- (such as for Arthur Thomas) or refer Over the past decade, legal bodies, in there at the highest,” he shouted, it could refer the case back to the Court There are many reasons why people ed its CCRC, Scotland followed suit. the case back to the courts, most ap- MPs of all parties and even Parliament’s pointing to the court behind him. “The of Appeal. are wrongly convicted: faulty eyewit- Its test for referring cases is simply if plications are declined. justice select committee have called for police told us from the start that they The prayers of hundreds of prisoners ness identification; coerced or false it believes “there may have been a mis- There are many criticisms of the Royal a more open and independent system, knew we hadn’t done it. They told us and justice campaigners seemed to confessions; non-disclosure of evi- carriage of justice”, and its powers are prerogative of mercy process: it doesn’t such as a CCRC, to look at possible they didn’t care who done it. They told have been answered. Finally now, jus- dence by police; incorrect scientific or even wider – it can interview anyone investigate cases; it isn’t a dedicated unit wrongful convictions. us that we were selected and they were tice for so many might truly be done. expert testimony; police malpractice and recover documents from anybody, with specific expertise in these cases; Despite this, the current government going to frame us just to keep the peo- or blunders; poor representation by public or private. its operation isn’t transparent; it runs has shown no interest in making any ple in there happy. That’s what it’s all defence lawyers. The final opportunity to review suspect the risk of public pressure and political changes. Former Justice Minister Judith about,” he spat, every word laden with “It is better that 10 guilty persons Each year the CCRC receives about convictions in New Zealand is similar to interference because of the Justice Collins swatted aside suggestions of a bitterness and frustration. “Justice – I escape, than that one innocent suffer.” 1500 applications. Forty investigators, what England and Scotland had before Minister’s involvement; that political CCRC, insisting the current system was don’t think them people in there have Sir William Blackstone mostly lawyers, examine these cases they implemented CCRCs. It’s called the involvement contravenes the traditional sound. This position has been adopted got the intelligence, nor the honesty, and make recommendations to a board Royal prerogative of mercy and is the separation of powers between judiciary by current Justice Minister Amy Adams. to spell the word, never mind dispense he English CCRC was set up whose members have backgrounds in only course open to prisoners who have and executive; crucial decisions are left It’s also the position of the Justice it. They’re rotten.” in Birmingham, partly to ac- areas such as law, forensics, the pro- lost their appeals in the courts. (Prison- in the hands of a few bureaucrats; the Ministry, which has clung to its powers Shaken by this case and many others T knowledge the events that led bation service and journalism. Former ers whose cases were heard before New referral rate is very low, with a sense it in this area. In 2003, it conducted a re- where innocent people had been jailed to its establishment. What happened detectives are also employed to help Zealand’s Supreme Court was created favours finality over justice; only a few view of the Royal prerogative of mercy for years, the British Home Secretary 40 years ago isn’t easily forgotten in with investigations and the CCRC can in 2004 can still appeal to the Privy QCs are used to review cases; and cases system and recommended an independ- that afternoon announced a Royal Com- Birmingham, and in a grassy park just compel public bodies to hand over in- Council – as John Barlow, Mark Lundy take too long to be reviewed – Scott ent board consider miscarriages of jus- mission into the justice system. That a few hundred metres from the CCRC’s formation and give evidence. and Teina Pora have done.) Watson, convicted of murdering Ben tice cases. However, by 2006 it had cu- commission recommended that instead office is a memorial to the victims of Only about one in every 30 cases is The system works like this. A pris- Smart and Olivia Hope, waited four riously changed its view, saying its work of the government handling miscarriage the bombings at the Mulberry Bush and referred back to the courts to be recon- oner applies to the Governor-General, years for a decision. was of a high standard and the ministry of justice appeals, a new and independ- Tavern in the Town pubs. sidered, but there are several reasons who hands the case on to the Justice Threaded through this is considerable was the appropriate body to consider ent body should be established. Any The CCRC was a world first – an of- this figure is so low, including that ap- Minister, who hands it on to the Justice concern that the system lacks true in- wrongful convictions. But not only was person who believed they’d been wrong- ficial body looking at miscarriages of plications must be based on new argu- Ministry, where officials consider dependence – what you have is one part this a subjective assessment of its own ly convicted of a crime could apply to justice – and since 1997 it’s received ment or evidence that wasn’t heard at whether a mistake has been made. In of the justice system reviewing another performance, it came despite admitting this Criminal Cases Review Commission more than 18,000 applications from the original trial or appeal – no matter high-profile cases, they may co-opt a part.

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