Exploring the legal framework for ‘criminality information sharing’ in England and Wales: working Paper

Abstract

One serious issue addressed is that while the legal framework with regard to criminality information sharing for public protection purposes may be complex, it is currently lacking one vital ingredient with regard to the sharing of ‘soft intelligence’ data: there is no statutory guidance as to what an appropriate degree of consultation might be in particular circumstances of sharing criminality information that is not simply convictions or cautions data etc. This is perhaps where statutory codification or better, perhaps, statutory specificity, along the lines of the ‘gateways’ for the admissibility of ‘bad character’ evidence in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, would be or real and meaningful assistance to Chief Constables and other responsible for the sharing of ‘criminality information’ across the public sector. More profoundly, we must ask a more moral question of the current statutory framework, since it is so inflexible, with regard to the disclosure of convictions and cautions, however foggy and distant these offences may (or may not) be.