Evidence of Bad Character (Criminal Law Library)

The legal rule excluding evidence of the defendant's general bad character, and disposition to commit the offense, has been described as one of the most hallowed rules of evidence. Britain's Lord Sankey, in Makin v Attorney-General for New South Wales, referred to it as "...one of the most deeply rooted and jealously guarded principles of our criminal law." In reality, the rule is not particularly ancient and in recent years it has been increasingly attacked. On technical grounds, the body of law surrounding it has been criticized as over-complicated and inconsistent, and more radical critics have condemned it as unduly favorable to the guilty. In response to this, it was completely recast in Part II of the UK's Criminal Justice Act 2003. This second edition, now updated to take into account a raft of new cases, offers the most thorough analysis available of the bad character provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.