The Balance in Criminal Law Review Group was an Irish legal review committee established by Michael McDowell, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, in 2006.
It reported in 2007 making recommendations for a number of changes to Irish criminal law, including adverse inferences to be drawn from the exercise of the right to silence in certain circumstances (which had been the subject of an interim report),[1] wider provision for admission of adverse character evidence, rolling back the exclusionary rule by way of court discretion to admit unconstitutionally obtained evidence, provision for disposing of admissibility issues pre-trial, and allowing acquittals to be reopened following new evidence, with-prejudice prosecution appeals, allowing an acquittal to be overturned and a re-trial ordered on appeal, and requiring defence disclosure of expert evidence.
Part 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 provided for adverse inferences to be drawn from the accused's failure to mention particular facts or account for objects, marks, or his or her presence in a particular place, in line with the Group's report.
[3] Part 3 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2010 provides for re-trial following acquittal in certain circumstances recommended by the Group.
[4]] The recommendation regarding rolling back the exclusionary rule was expressed to be following "the approach of seeing whether a change in jurisprudence emerges following use of the appeal provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2006".