Clause 83 - Non-defendant's bad character
Criminal Justice Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
The clause deals with the provisions for the admissibility of a non-defendant's bad character. As we discussed in respect of clause 81, it is common in courts for witnesses called by the prosecution, or by a co-defendant, to have their reputations attacked in order to discredit them. A salient feature of the clause is that the test and threshold for being allowed to cross-examine the character of a prosecution or co-defendant's witness is pitched at a different level from that relating to the defendant. The report of the Select Committee on Home Affairs commented on that. Paragraph 120 says:
''Under the Bill the threshold for admitting the defendant's previous convictions will generally be lower than the threshold for admitting the convictions of other witnesses.''
It then deals with the defendant's position, and continues:
''By contrast, a witness's previous record will generally only be admissible if it has substantial probative value to an issue that is of itself of substantial importance in the context of the whole case''—
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
On resuming—