Can someone be convicted of murder if they weren’t the one who wielded the knife? According to the legal doctrine known as joint enterprise, yes they can. In this episode Rob and Penelope are joined by Jan Cunliffe, Director of campaigning group JENGbA, and Nisha Waller, PhD researcher at the University of Oxford, to explore this controversial common law which can see ten children convicted for a crime carried out by just one of their number.

They discuss the types of evidence used to imply guilt in joint enterprise cases, including claims of gang affiliation and lyrics from drill music, and perceived miscarriages of justice resulting from cases which see young boys given life sentences for crimes in which they had little to no involvement.

Jan Cunliffe @Jliffe
Find out more about Jan and the campaigning group JENGbA here.

Nisha Waller @NishaWaller4
Read more about Nisha’s research here.

Further resources
Read the Centre for Crime and Justice report ‘The Usual Suspects’ here.
Read a summary of the Jogee supreme court ruling here.

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.