February 17, 2009
Update 5-6-2009: News release updated to current version.Satish Sekar has a website devoted to his quest to prevent miscarriage of justice in the UK. You can read more about it below, and hit the link for all the latest updates.
News Release
http://www.fittedin.com/
Introduction:
Over ten years ago we published Satish Sekar's book 'Fitted In: The Cardiff 3 and the Lynette White Inquiry' in order to provoke changes in the law to help to reduce the risk of miscarriages of justice. They will occur in any jurisdiction, but measures can be taken to ensure that they are swiftly corrected. Advances in forensic science techniques offer an opportunity not only to correct miscarriages of justice, but to catch the truly guilty as well. The Lynette White case illustrates this, with the conviction of the true offender, Jeffrey Gafoor in 2003 and in 2008 the first convictions of those who had colluded in giving perjured evidence in the wrongful prosecution of the original defendants. However, there is now an urgent need to disseminate information efficiently and to make it accessible to the public, so that the original purpose of Sekar's book can be accomplished. An informed society is a protected one.
Aims and Objectives:
- To inform the public what forensic science can achieve.
- To inform the public how it can help to prevent miscarriages of justice.
- To highlight the need for lawyers and campaigners to understand what can be achieved through forensic science.
To highlight:
- The lack of investigation of flaws that caused miscarriages of justice
- The need for accountability over miscarriages of justice and the current lack of such accountability.
- The lack of accountability of public bodies, including the Crown Prosecution Service.
- The effects of vindication and the requirement to cater for the needs of vindication, including the need to change tariff provisions to help prevent miscarriages of justice.
- The need for aftercare to assist them and their families to integrate back into society.
- The need for access to such information in and about other jurisdictions in order to ensure that relevant experiences are noted and learned from both in Britain and in other countries.
- Issues of social justice that have been ignored by mainstream media.
- The failure of people with power and influence to correct flaws in criminal justice systems in several jurisdictions.
- To stimulate discussion on these issues to effect policy changes and make information on issues of social justice available to inform the public.
Beneficiaries:
Victims of miscarriage of justice, their families and campaigning groups will benefit by having access to relevant information that can assist in their campaigning to overturn wrongful convictions. Law students will also be assisted by having free and easy access to pertinent information that will help them in the course of their careers.
Methodology:
The FIP's website will publish articles written by journalists with knowledge of key issues and also by professionals who can add to debates. It will also publish articles by others with pertinent information such as victims of miscarriages of justice. We will also conduct research projects relating to issues that arise to facilitate the required changes in legislation.
Proposal:
Miscarriages of justice help nobody. Not only have innocent people been wrongfully convicted, but recent cases show that some people such as Colin Stagg (Rachel Nickell Inquiry), the original defendants in the Damilola Taylor Inquiry and the Actie cousins (Lynette White Inquiry) have faced trial for crimes they did not commit. This helps the truly guilty to evade all sanctions for their crimes and society has wasted resource on a failure of the criminal justice system. The public is not only not protected by this, but put at greater risk. Mainstream media have ignored several issues of vital importance that could have informed the public and helped them to protect themselves. For example, real perpetrators have treated more leniently than the original defendants who were innocent. Despite vindication, or exoneration some innocent people receive no assistance to rebuild their lives, even though schemes exist to aid victims of miscarriages of justice. Properly utilised forensic science can help to prevent miscarriages or justice, correct them and help to convict to convict the truly guilty, yet many remain ignorant of such techniques.
Our website will provide access to such vitally important information, which will also be made available to lawyers as well. Content will be updated weekly. This includes cutting edge forensic science and DNA data-basing. We shall inform debate and inform the public of other issues of importance in order to help deliver justice. The website will be free and be maintained by contributions from top quality journalists, specialising in relevant issues, from professionals working within the criminal justice system and from victims of it. We will also provide consultancy services where required. We will cover and learn lessons from other jurisdictions as well.
Conclusion:
We had hoped that our services would no longer be needed, but more than ten years after the publication of 'Fitted In: The Cardiff 3 and the Lynette White Inquiry,' the issues that we highlighted then have not been resolved. There is an even greater need for the resource we will provide than ever before. We have an important role to play to ensure that vitally needed information is disseminated as widely as possible. An informed public is a protected society.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
