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Written by Dr Eamonn Butler
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Thursday, 04 October 2007 |
London's police are being prosecuted for their shooting of terrorism
suspect Jean Charles de Menezes. Trouble is, they are being prosecuted
for risking his (and the public's) health and safety.
The 'double jeopardy' rule was adopted centuries ago as a way of
protecting citizens from tyrannical governments bringing them to trial
over and over in the hope that at least one jury might convict. We
compromised it a while back, allowing private prosecutions – with a
lower burden of proof – even if a criminal prosecution had failed: so
you are found not guilty, but the alleged victim still pursues you for
compensation. More recently, we deliberately suspended the rule in
cases of murder when new evidence could be found. More recently still,
you can be hauled back into court on the charge that you curtailed the
'human rights' of the alleged victim.
And now – if you are a public official at least – it seems that you can
be prosecuted for compromising health and safety law during the
incident in question. On balance I would say that terrorists are a
bigger risk to our health and safety than the police, so maybe we
should cut the Met some slack. But the real point is that there are at
least different five ways you can now be hauled back to court over the
same allegation.
In these supposedly democratic times we're not exactly at the mercy of
tyrants; but we are at the mercy of politicians and prosecutors who are
pushed into illiberal actions by the pressure of the media and the
public. And that's a form of tyranny too.
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