Acquitted with an Asterisk*

Since the end of the 20th century the protection better known to all as double jeopardy has been under attack. With public pressure put on the United Kingdom government to address individuals who had been acquitted of violent crimes, the Labour government implemented a radical overhaul of common law criminal procedural protections. The reform created an exception to double jeopardy, allowing re-prosecution of acquitted individuals. Many of the commonwealth countries starting with Australia took the U.K. exceptions and adopted them into their own criminal justice systems. This paper is going to look at the exception created, and the factors that lead to the bypass of such a critical legal protection throughout the commonwealth nations. Then analyze the current state of double jeopardy in Canada to determine if such and exception is needed; or if any factors from the exception can be adapted to strengthen the Canadian criminal justice system.