Criminal law solicitors have reacted with dismay to plans to allow the disclosure of defendants' previous convictions in theft and child sex offences to juries.

Home Secretary David Blunkett laid an order in Parliament this week making previous convictions for the two categories of offence admissible evidence in criminal trials for offences of the same type.


Mr Blunkett also revealed that the order would pave the way for the implementation of more general bad character provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 by the end of the year. The Act reversed the tradition that previous convictions were not admissable, but only in 'strikingly similar' cases. This week's proposal - if approved by Parliament - would go further.


The home secretary said the reforms put victims at the heart of the justice system. He added: 'Trials should be a search for the truth, and juries should be trusted with all the evidence available to help them reach proper and fair decisions.'


Criminal Law Solicitors Association director Rodney Warren criticised the move. He said: 'There has been considerable concern that if we are not very careful, the defendant may be tried and convicted on the basis of what he has done in the past rather than on evidence that he is guilty this time.


'The great danger is that because you arrest the same old suspect, the truly guilty person gets away.'


Russell Wallman, Law Society strategic policy director, said: 'The government had planned to implement these changes in spring 2005. It is now implementing the rules in the criminal justice system without properly training those working in it.'


He warned the move would lead to an 'inconsistent, erratic approach' in the courts, and that such a 'rushed approach' risked damaging the credibility of the new rules.