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Time to end the injustice of joint enterprise
KIM JOHNSON MP explains why a simple change to the law could keep many innocent people out of prison
arrest

I BECAME aware of joint enterprise after watching Jimmy McGovern’s shocking and powerful 2014 drama Common.

This is the legal doctrine, technically known as the law of complicity, that has resulted in people being convicted of very serious crimes, including murder, despite someone else committing the act itself.

Joint enterprise is used to prosecute someone who intentionally “assists or encourages” an offence — and if found guilty, they are punished as harshly as if they had been the principal offender, which can lead to life imprisonment.

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