Member News
By Daniel Forman - 18th April 2006
The home secretary has announced a reduction in the amount of money paid to those wrongly convicted of crimes.
Charles Clarke unveiled proposals to reform compensation for victims for miscarriages of justice on Wednesday, in an attempt to streamline the system.
The initiative would see payouts cut for victims such as Angela Cannings, who was wrongly convicted of killing two of her sons on the basis of faulty evidence.
The Home Office will shave an annual £5m off the compensation budget.
Individual awards will be capped at £500,000, equal to the maximum paid to victims of crime, down from £2.1m.
New legislation will also mean that compensation could be reduced to zero because of previous criminal convictions or other conduct by the applicant.
"The changes I have announced today will create a fairer, simpler and speedier system for compensating miscarriages of justice," Clarke said.
"I am scrapping the discretionary scheme which has become increasingly anomalous and I do not believe that this can continue to be justified.
"These changes will save more than £5 million a year which we will plough back into improving criminal justice and support for victims of crime."
He also announced a ministerial review of the legal test currently used by the Court of Appeal to quash criminal convictions.
It will examine to what extent an error in the trial process necessarily leads to a miscarriage of justice, said a Home Office spokesman.
The home secretary described the move as an "urgent review" which could lead to a change in the law.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd