... disproportionate and prejudicial impact on the jury. The conclusion was after reviewing the psychological research on character and statistical data on recidivism, that those with previous convictions are much more likely to offend than are those without a criminal record, which implies that evidence of bad character will usually be sufficiently probative to justify its admission as proof of guilt.5 There are no simple conclusions from this - probative value and potential prejudice both exist when the prosecution introduces the accused's criminal record. Policing that line in the interests of a fair trial for the defendant and for the community at large was never going to be easy. The common law adopted a default policy of exclusion of such evidence. This has come under considerable scrutiny, firstly from the Auld Report on criminal courts.6 The Report came down strongly on increasing the scope of bad character evidence, 119. ...Professor Spencer and ...

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