A potential change to controversial ‘joint enterprise’ law is being tabled in Parliament this week as Labour MP Kim Johnson continues her fight to amend this ‘flawed’ legislation.

Johnson’s amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill seeks to stop people peripheral to crimes – particularly murder – being considered ‘guilty by association’. Under the current law, people can be convicted for murder just by being present at the crime scene, even if they didn’t commit the crime, or even have a weapon.

This amendment would tighten up the existing law, as only those who make a ‘significant contribution’ would be held criminally liable.

Speaking to a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice in April, Kim Johnson said: ‘Joint enterprise is a massive miscarriage of justice when you’ve got 13 year old boys being incarcerated for 13 years for a crime that they haven’t committed’.

She said would continue fighting to raise awareness of joint enterprise and has committed to the campaign group, JENGbA, that she would continue working on their behalf.

The Prison Reform Trust has urged MPs to support this amendment on Wednesday to address concerns that the law is being used far more widely than intended. They say the current legislation, which dates from the 1860s, operates as a ‘drag net’, sweeping up large numbers particularly young people from black and minority ethnic groups, into criminal prosecutions.

According figures from the Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS), Black people are 16 times more likely than white people to be prosecuted under joint enterprise.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that the law had taken a ‘wrong turn’ on joint enterprise for over 30 years. It was widely anticipated that there would be successful appeals in the wake of this ruling.

So far only one conviction has been overturned and there is evidence that the police and prosecution have re-committed to using joint enterprise despite growing concerns over its legitimacy as well as evidence of racist targeting.