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Monday, 14 July 2014

In this video, Professor Virgo addresses the current position of the law relating to defendants who are prosecuted in cases of 'common purpose'. Several different circumstances are often combined to form the confused category of 'Joint Enterprise'. Professor Virgo outlines these different circumstances, criticises the current state of the law in this field, and seeks to suggest some possible reforms to clarify the situation.

Professor Graham Virgo is Professor of English Private Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, and also Deputy Chair of the Faculty Board. For more information about Professor Virgo, please refer to his staff profile.

In April 2014, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism published the results of the first statistical analysis of 'Joint Enterprise' homicide cases, in which it identified 1,853 people convicted of homicide between 2005-2013 where there were four or more participants. These are assumed to involve Joint Enterprise cases. Both Professor Virgo and Dr Matthew Dyson (also of the University of Cambridge) were consulted by the BIJ as part of the investigation.

This issue has been discussed a great deal in the media subsequently. A BBC documentary broadcast on 7 July 2014 examined this area of law and specifically the case of Alex Henry, who was found guilty of stabbing Taqui Khezihi, despite him claiming to have never touched the knife.

The BBC also broadcast a drama based on 'Joint Enterprise' law on 6 July 2014 entitled 'Common'.

Other collections of video and audio recordings from the Faculty of Law are available at Lectures at Law.

 

Cambridge Faculty of Law on YouTube

Cambridge Faculty of Law on iTunes U

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