Purposes of this Memorandum

The contents of this Memorandum are for explanatory purposes and do not represent a legal interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Act 2010.

Purposes of Act

The main purposes of the Act are to:

• reform the law relating to victim impact evidence and, in particular, to extend the entitlement to make an oral statement (commonly called a victim impact statement) at a sentencing hearing to the family members of homicide victims;

• modify the rule against double jeopardy in order to allow a person who has been acquitted of an offence to be re-tried in circumstances where ''new and compelling evidence'' emerges or where the acquittal is tainted due, for example, to corruption or intimidation of witnesses or jurors or perjury;

• provide the Director of Public Prosecutions with a right of appeal to the Supreme Court on a ''with prejudice'' basis against an acquittal where the acquittal arises from (i) an erroneous ruling by the trial court on a point of law arising during the trial or from (ii) a decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal not to order a re-trial following the quashing of a conviction;

• provide for a number of miscellaneous procedural amendments to defence appeal provisions;

• reform of the law relating to character evidence where the defendant raises issues concerning his or her own character or the character of deceased or incapacitated victims;

• require the defence to notify the prosecution in advance of the intention to adduce expert evidence;