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The role of a royal commission
Author(s) -
GUNN JOHN
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.1993.3.4.228
Subject(s) - royal commission , commission , criminal justice , imprisonment , law , economic justice , jury , political science , scrutiny , criminology , punishment (psychology) , population , sociology , psychology , social psychology , demography
In the UK 142 royal commissions have been appointed this century. The topics studied have a bias towards crime, medicine and the acquisition of money. The royal commissions on population, capital punishment, medical education, and mental illness are highlighted. The two most recent royal commissions have both considered the criminal justice system. The Philips Commission on criminal procedure spawned the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. This was followed by a long Tory royal commission drought, broken in response to a series of serious miscarriages of justice, brought to light after people wrongly convicted had served many years of imprisonment. The Royal Commission on Criminal Justice (RCCJ) has reported after 2 years’ work with a list of 352 recommendations. Its proposals had an initial bad press, one proposal on rationalising the inefficient and misused sytem for choosing the mode of trial in ‘either‐way’ cases being heralded as a negation of rights given to the English under Magna Carta! Less controversial proposals include setting up a new independent review authority to consider allegations of miscarriages of justice, improvements in the way scientific evidence is handled and presented to the court, and detailed pretrial procedures for serious and/or controversial cases. The RCCJ also commissioned 22 research reports which have had a considerable impact on the poorly funded discipline of criminology. It is concluded that, in spite of powerful iconoclastic views, royal commissions are cheap at the price.