Courts should let protesters justify their actions as a defence, say academics

Protesters who are charged with non-violent offences should not be forced to disavow their motives in court, academics have said.

- Damien Gayle

In a challenge to the approach of the justice system, they argue that defendants should be allowed to explain their actions as a defence and have their integrity respected as a mitigating factor. They should not be expected to express remorse, according to the authors of the legal paper.

Dr Graeme Hayes, a reader in sociology at Aston University and one of three authors of the paper published in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, said: "The way courts handle protest trials forces activists into an impossible position - either abandon their political stance or face harsher punishment.