Category: Latest News

The Law Commission is the statutory independent body created by the Law Commissions Act 1965 to keep the law of England and Wales under review and to recommend reform where it is needed. The aim of the Commission is to ensure that the law is: fair modern simple cost-effective   This week the Law Commission… Continue reading Law Commission to Investigate the Criminal Appeals System

Homicide is the killing of one person by another. It accounts for a very small proportion of deaths each year in England and Wales; for the most recent five years of mortality data, from 2017 to 2021, homicides accounted for one in every 800 deaths. Historical data on recorded homicides in England and Wales is… Continue reading Homicide – What Do the Figures Show?

Up to 12,000 prisoners in England and Wales at risk of being released homeless will be offered temporary housing for up to 12 weeks as part of the Community Accommodation Service scheme. In 2019/20 (the last pre-COVID performance publication), there were approximately 12,000 prisoners (16%) released either rough sleeping or homeless. The Community Accommodation Scheme… Continue reading New Housing Initiative for Released Prisoners

In a recent case, the Court of Appeal dealt with an appeal concerning an ex-police officer who served on a jury. When the prospective juror was summoned for jury service, he wrote to the court in the following terms: “After discussing my forthcoming juror duty with my wife, I realise that I was deluded in… Continue reading Declared Bias – Nothing to See Here, According to the Court of Appeal

Two new guidelines for sentencing people convicted of interfering with the administration of justice in England and Wales were published this week by the Sentencing Council following consultation. For the first time, judges and magistrates will have guidelines to assist in sentencing perverting the course of justice and witness intimidation offences. The new guidelines will… Continue reading New Sentencing Guidelines

A massive police operation across Europe to disrupt serious crime, much of it being conducted across encrypted phone devices (‘EncroChat’) has been judged a significant success. Police investigators managed to intercept, share and analyse over 115 million allegedly criminal conversations by an estimated number of over 60,000 users.  User hotspots were prevalent in source and… Continue reading EncroChat Disruption – What Did the Data Reveal?

Shortages of prison staff and a lack of training means not enough prisoners are able to improve their reading – according to a new report by Ofsted and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons. In March 2022, Ofsted and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) published a joint review of reading education in prisons, which highlighted… Continue reading Poor Support for Prisoner Education

The Sentencing Council has published 12 new and revised sentencing guidelines for offenders convicted of motoring offences in England and Wales. The new and revised guidelines, which apply to adults only, will come into effect on 1 July 2023. The changes include updated versions of six current guidelines that were published in 2008 and reflect… Continue reading Driving Offences – New Sentencing Guidelines

The Sentencing of young persons is one of the most complex judicial exercises, which must recognise the substantial differences between child and adult offending, particularly where an offender before the court has just reached majority age.  Research has repeatedly emphasised the pace of developmental milestones and often suggests that full maturity may only be reached… Continue reading Court of Appeal Issues Further Guidance on Sentencing of Young People