Joe's article was first published in Inside Time's March 2012 issue. Joe is one of JENGbA's Inside Campaigners...
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| Joe Appiah |
I am writing to inform and explain about the Joint Enterprise law.
Until the publicity in early January I’m quite sure the majority of
people had never heard of Joint Enterprise. Joint Enterprise is a power
that can be used by prosecutors to charge and possibly convict a group
of people regardless of whether they are guilty of the actual crime
committed. The law has been in force for a long time but has been
extensively used in the last few years as a means of combating ‘gang
related’ murders. Under the Joint Enterprise law you can be convicted
even if you were not at the scene of the crime, for calling someone on
the phone who is in the area of the crime, for being with someone before
or after they have committed the crime, or for even knowing that some
sort of crime may take place! Although you may be at home in bed, many
miles away from where the crime is committed, there is still a
possibility that you can be convicted and sent to prison for life under
Joint Enterprise.
How can the Joint Enterprise law in its present form be just? If you
commit a crime you will be arrested, prosecuted and punished on the
basis of what you did. But if you play a lesser part or no part at all
why should you be tarred with the same brush and receive the same
sentence as the person who committed the crime? I am currently serving
life with a 12 year tariff for murder under Joint Enterprise. I have
six co-defendants who are also serving sentences when the victim died
from a single stab wound from one person. The culprit was clearly seen
on CCTV committing the murder and was easily identifiable. Yes, we all
set out to cause disorder as a group but someone acted on impulse and
committed the murder, so why should we all be held responsible if our
intentions were never the same as the murderer?
This law must be changed as Joint Enterprise is a prime example of injustice at work in this country.
