Is this really how the law works?

[DaftJelly]

I've recently had lots of time at home and I've been watching tv like The Good Wife and Conviction etc.

So often on these types of program you get innocent people on trumped up charges that they can't disprove, and guilty people who get off on technicalities. It's basically all down to how clever the lawyers are, the mood of the judge and the sympathy of the jury. Not to mention all the politics involved.

Call me naive but I always thought the justice system was fairer than that. I know it's only American telly stuff but it's really made me think. So basically anyone could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and end up in prison for life for a murder they had nothing to do with.

Is that really how it works? Or is it actually much fairer and this is just telly nonsense?

It's nothing at all like TV but obviously not perfect by any stretch.

I agree with the above re more guilty people walk free than innocent convicted

But it's meant to work like that. It's recognised as much worse to convict an innocent person than acquit a guilty one so it's weighted that way, I.e. juries or magistrates to be sure before convicting, also known as "beyond reasonable doubt.

That's an alarming thought, BangingNoise.

Addicted to TGW on series 6. Where can I get series 7. Some massive twists that i wont spoilt but love it and just seen there is a follow up spin off

Agree that forensic evidence is not as good since the demise of the FSS and the lack of full reports.

It's a recognised risk, unfortunately, CubanHeels. The Forensic Regulator, warned about it again in her annual report, published a couple of weeks ago.

It annoys me because while the FSS was in no way perfect, it was shut down ultimately because the government thought it was too expensive, But there's only so much cost cutting you can do in forensics - you can't reuse reagents - you'll contaminate; you can't cut down on the amount of cleaning - you'll contaminate; you can't cut down on the number of labs - you'll contaminate. You can cut down on the amount of training, and you can cut down on the amount of double checking, and hope that nothing goes wrong, but that risks a miscarriage of justice.

Now it has become apparent just how expensive it is to deliver a high quality forensic service, some police forces are cutting costs by choosing not to adopt quality standards. The report is here, the relevant part starts on the bottom of page seven:

It is becoming clear that not all police forces are fully committed to reaching the required standards.

I can only see this ending badly.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/581653/FSR_Annual_Report_v1.0.pdf