Falconer: ‘You need a quite draconian law’

Lord Falconer, former Lord Chancellor, comments on the move to reform murder prosecutions:

“The message that the law is sending out is that we are very willing to see people convicted if they are a part of gang violence – and that violence ends in somebody’s death.

“Is it unfair? Well, what you’ve got to decide is not ‘does the system lead to people being wrongly convicted?’ I think the real question is “do you want a law is as draconian as our law is, which says juries can convict even if you are quite a peripheral member of the gang which killed?”

“And I think broadly the view of reasonable people is that you probably do need a quite draconian law in that respect.”