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Conversation about the laws making headlines, and the laws that shape everyday life.

The Law Show is your guide to the law and the legal decisions that have a bearing on everyone in the UK.

Weekly conversation that will give you an in-depth understanding of the law stories making news and the legal decisions that could have a bearing on everyone in the UK. Whether it's unpicking a landmark legal ruling, explaining how laws are made or seeking clarity for you on a legal issue, The Law Show will be your guide.

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The Law Show: Exporting prisoners, is Joint Enterprise racist, and Gaza-Israel

24/10/2023

Exporting prisoners, is Joint Enterprise racist, and Gaza-Israel

BBC Radio 4 - The Law Show, Exporting prisoners, is Joint Enterprise racist, and Gaza-Israel

Can exporting prisoners work? Are Joint Enterprise cases racist? And Israel-Gaza: the law.

What does international law say about self-defence and proportionality? Also: sending prisoners to a prison abroad as Norway did, and are Joint Enterprise convictions safe?

Following the events of the 7th October in which around 1400 people were killed in Israel and over 200 taken hostage, Israel has been striking back against Hamas in  Gaza. What does international law say about self-defence and proportionate responses to attacks? Joshua Rozenberg asks expert Professor Guglielmo Verdirame KC of Kings College. 

The government is proposing to rent prison space abroad, due to a risk of prison overcrowding here. There is precedent: Norway sent prisoners to a Dutch prison, for example. How did that work out in practice? What lessons were being learnt? Prisons expert Professor Alison Liebling of Cambridge University has studied and evaluated the Norwegian-Dutch case. 

How safe are Joint Enterprise convictions for murder? As a result of legal action on behalf of JENGbA (Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association), the Crown Prosecution Service has started to gather, and publish, data about those charged with Joint Enterprise homicide or attempted homicide. The figures show that young black men are vastly overrepresented among those charged under the Joint Enterprise doctrine. The convictions are difficult to appeal, as the threshold is high.  In 2016 the Supreme Court admitted the law had "taken a wrong turn" on Joint Enterprise for 30 years. What went wrong, and is it being put right?  We hear from Professor Felicity Gerry KC, who led the defence in the 2016 Supreme Court case, and from someone who served a Joint Enterprise sentence for murder, even though he says he was not present at the killing and only found out about it afterwards.   

Presenter: Joshua Rozenberg 
Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Researcher: Diane Richardson
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound engineers: Neil Churchill and Rod Farquhar
Production coordinator: Maria Ogundele

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Exporting prisoners, is Joint Enterprise racist, and Gaza-Israel

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