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Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Burnett (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Tuesday, 5 September 2017.

Armed Forces: Serious Crime

Question

My Lords, the fundamental ethos of a court martial should be that you are tried by your peers. That means that if you are a fighting soldier you are tried by other fighting men and not, may I say, by people who have never even heard a shot fired in anger. My second point is that conviction by a simple majority is grossly unfair. I raised these matters with the noble Earl before and I hope that there will be

an opportunity for them to be considered accurately and fairly to ensure that we do not have miscarriages of justice the like of which we have recently had.

Answer

My Lords, the first point made by the noble Lord is well taken and I fully agree with him. On the question of majority verdicts, as he knows, that system has been found fair and lawful in the courts, but I recognise that there are strong differences of opinion about this, which is why we shall be examining that matter, among others, in the run-up to the Armed Forces Bill of 2020.

Secondary information

Type
Oral question
Reference
783 c1829 
Session
2017-19
Oral question type
Supplementary
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Armed forces Courts martial Prosecutions
Link
View this Oral question on hansard.parliament.uk