The country’s top prosecutor has denied the controversial use of “joint enterprise” had led to miscarriages of justice.
Campaigners are calling for changes to joint enterprise code which can see groups of people prosecuted for the same crime.
Suspects can be charged for the same offence if they are judged to be “in it together”. But opponents say it has seen innocent bystanders prosecuted for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When she was quizzed by MPs the Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders rejected claims the joint enterprise code was being misused.
“We are satisfied in the cases where we use the joint enterprise doctrine we do so properly,” she added.
Justice minister Mike Penning also defended the use of joint enterprise, telling the committee: “We are happy with where we are.”
Mr Penning pointed out that the law had helped secure convictions against Stephen Lawrence and was welcomed by victims.
“Convictions such as Lawrence have been successful because of this legislation. All the evidence I see from them (victims) is they are in support of this legislation which has allowed convictions to take place that perhaps would not have taken place before,” he said.
But MPs on the committee said the use of joint enterprise was “questionable to put it mildly”.
The pointed to research showing that nearly a quarter (22%) of the appeals heard last year were a result of joint enterprise prosecutions.
Mr Penning said this showed the law was working and noted few of the cases were turned over by the Court of Appeal.
In addition to securing the convictions of Stephen Lawrence’s killers, the law was instrumental in securing convictions for the deaths of Garry Newlove and Ben Kinsella when they may otherwise have walked free.
It has also been used to jail gang members who stand by a code of silence and refuse to give up a killer.
But critics, including writer Jimmy McGovern who penned a BBC drama on the subject, say it can lead to those ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’ being condemned.
Pressure group Joint Enterprise: Not Guilty by Association (JENGbA) is supporting 500 men, women and children - the youngest being 13 - locked up, wrongly they say, under joint enterprise law.
Experienced QCs Sam Stein and Andrew Jefferies had previously told the committee that the use of joint enterprise” needs urgent revision.”
While Professor Graham Virgo, from Cambridge University, told the committee after doing his own research: “The law on joint enterprise liability as regards murder is not fit for purpose and is unjust, so reform is needed as matter of some urgency.”