In their submission to the review led by Leveson, who said the “real difficulties facing the criminal justice system” needed innovative solutions, Monteith and Quinn said racial bias contributes to strain on the system by “amplifying” charging and conviction rates through joint enterprise prosecutions.
Two legal campaigners, Keir Monteith KC and Prof Eithne Quinn, of the University of Manchester, have since told the review – led by Sir Brian Leveson – that “considering the overuse of joint enterprise” will “enhance fairness” and help tackle the backlog of prosecutions.
Black defendants are 16 times more likely to be prosecuted under the principle than white defendants, CPS data from 2023 revealed, fuelling concerns that racial bias leads to groups of bystanders being held collectively responsible for crimes committed by individuals.
Last year Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, admitted to “racial disparities” in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)’s decision-making after it emerged that minority ethnic defendants were more likely to be charged for the same offence than white defendants.
She told the Guardian the issue had “massive overlap” with joint enterprise, which also needed to be “seriously reformed”, to “enshrine in law that a person can only be prosecuted under [the principle] where they are proven to have significantly contributed to a crime”.
