ABSTRACT

The criminal justice system has unceasingly been the subject of widespread heated debate in parliament, the broadcast media and the print media, and in academic and professional journals. The Criminal Justice Act 2003, for example, had 339 sections and made hundreds of quite signifi cant changes to the operation of the criminal justice system. It was followed shortly afterwards by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. The changes made by these statutes are in many areas, including those of criminal evidence, bail, juries, and appeals. We examine some of these, where relevant, in this chapter and in Chapter 8 .