b. Good character evidence

B. Good character evidence

1. Can a defendant admit evidence of his good character?

The presumption that a person of good character is incapable of committing a crime does not exist. When evidence is relevant to the nature of the charge, a defendant can adduce evidence of his good character and the good character may “tip the scales” towards the defendant.

A defendant can adduce evidence establishing his good character by a number of ways. For example, by asking prosecution witnesses who may have known him for a period of time about his usual good character, or by giving evidence himself on his own good character.

The defendant can also admit evidence of his absence of any previous criminal conviction. A person without a previous conviction record would be considered as having a good character, which involves two effects:

1. A defendant of good character tends to give more credible evidence; and 
2. A defendant of good character has a lower tendency to commit a criminal offence.

However, before the defendant decides to do so, he or she must be aware of section 54(1)(f) of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) as he or she will lose his “character shield”, meaning that the prosecution may cross-examine him on his bad character, see “Cross examination of a defendant's bad character”.

2. Court directions

The absence of any previous criminal conviction may not necessitate a direction on good character to be given to the jury. However, if there are positive evidence of the defendant’s good character and there is nothing to discredit them, it would be fair for the Court to explain to the jury that even though good character cannot itself provide a defence to a criminal charge, they can still take into account these evidence in favour of the defendant. The Court should also state clearly the ways in which the jury can take those evidence into account.