Compensation Cuts for Wrongful Convictions

The Home Office has introduced plans to reduce the amounts payable as compensation to people who are wrongfully convicted of crimes. Among the plans are proposals to scrap discretionary payments and to limit the maximum amount payable for wrongful conviction to £500,000.

 

It is also intended that those persons whose convictions are overturned within the normal court time limits will receive no compensation at all. This raises the spectre that someone may spend months or even years in jail before their conviction is quashed and receive no compensation whatsoever.

 

Lastly, there are proposals to limit still further the compensation payable to people who have past convictions for serious crimes or whose ‘conduct has contributed to the situation in which they found themselves’.