Publications

Law Commission on double jeopardy

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has considered the Law Commission’s
Consultation Paper No 156 on Double Jeopardy.

The Commission is impressed by the analysis contained in the paper and is entirely in
agreement with the conclusions reached. We too attach great importance to Article 4(1) of the
Seventh Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and would want to see the
UK government ratify this Protocol as soon as possible.

The Commission is strongly in favour of retaining the rule against double jeopardy and
accepts the logic of extending the rule to situations where the prosecution seeks a conviction
for a different offence based on the same or substantially the same facts as a previous charge
on which the defendant was acquitted or convicted.

law-commission-on-double-jeopardy-february-2000.pdf