Law Weblog
New Code for Crown Prosecutors
Wednesday 24 February 2010 at 8:02 am | In News | Post Comment
Changes include:
- A clearer explanation of the public interest factors tending in favour of and against prosecution;
- A clearer explanation of how the public interest stage of the Full Code Test is applied;
- Prosecutors having a discretion to stop a prosecution in the public interest, in exceptional circumstances, before all of the evidence is available;
- A fuller section explaining the use of out-of-court disposals for both adults and youths;
- Prosecutors being able to conduct pre-trial witness interviews when it is needed to assess the reliability of a witness’ evidence or better understand complex evidence.
The Code applies to all CPS prosecutors and police officers when making charging decisions.
School spies on pupil webcams?
Saturday 20 February 2010 at 12:00 am | In News | Post Comment
By Wednesday, the story had exploded across the Web and been picked up by local and national media outlets.
According to an Associate Press report published by CBS News:
Lower Merion School District officials can activate the webcams without students’ knowledge or permission, the suit said. Plaintiffs Michael and Holly Robbins suspect the cameras captured students and family members as they undressed and in other embarrassing situations, according to the suit.
Non jury trial defendant escapes
Friday 19 February 2010 at 9:10 am | In News | Post Comment
Blake (and three co-defendants) was being tried without a jury after the prosecution alleged the jury in the previous Old Bailey trial had been nobbled.
Detective Superintendent Stuart Cundy, of the Flying Squad, said, “Peter Blake is considered as dangerous and we would ask members of the public not to approach Peter Blake, but if they do see him to call 999 immediately,”
Equality watchdog faces multiple sexism accusations
Wednesday 17 February 2010 at 9:14 am | In News | Post Comment
According to employment tribunal figures, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights has been the subject of 15 claims, in which it has been accused of sexism, racism and discriminating against pregnant women.
Although most of the claims were withdrawn or settled out of court.
Stewart Jackson, shadow minister for communities, said “This is yet more evidence of chaos and confusion in this unhappy Whitehall quango.”
Are Juries Fair?
Wednesday 17 February 2010 at 8:59 am | In News | Post Comment
The report also asks whether juries rarely convict on certain offences or at certain courts and whether jurors understand legal directions, are aware of media coverage or look for information on the internet about cases.
- The study found little evidence of jury unfairness.
- The study found little evidence that juries are not fair. However, it identifies several areas where the criminal justice system should better assist jurors in performing this vital role.
- The study also demonstrates that section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 does not prevent comprehensive research about how juries reach their verdicts and that research from other jurisdictions should not be relied upon to understand juries in this country.
The study examined decision-making at the jury verdict level:
- The key finding was that verdicts of all-White juries did not discriminate against BME defendants. Jury verdicts at both courts showed no tendency for all-White juries to convict a Black or Asian defendant more than a White defendant.
- All-White juries at Winchester had almost identical verdicts for White and BME defendants, but all-White juries at Nottingham had particular difficulty reaching a verdict involving a BME defendant or BME victim.
This suggests that local population dynamics may play a role in jury decision-making.
- BME defendants are consistently more likely than White defendants to plead not guilty to charges in all of the 12 general offence categories used in this study except one (falsification, forgery and counterfeiting)
- BME defendants are three and half times more likely to face a jury verdict in the Crown Court relative to their representation in the general population.
However, jury verdicts showed only small differences based on defendant ethnicity. White and Asian defendants both had a 63% jury conviction rate; Black defendants had a 67% jury conviction rate.
Most charges brought against defendants in the Crown Court are not decided by a jury:
- Only 12% of all charges are decided by jury deliberation.
- 59% of all charges result in a guilty plea by a defendant.
Tuesday 16 February 2010 at 7:08 am | In News | Post Comment
A Freedom of Information investigation by Lewis PR has revealed that workers were disciplined for misbehaving on websites like Facebook and Twitter and general internet and email offences.
Five civilian staff were also disciplined by the police force for committing the same offence in the past 18 months, with one of them being dismissed.
The usage policy at both the MoJ and the MPS prohibited staff from accessing social networking websites for personal reasons in working hours.
Other staff were subject to disciplinary action for breaches of IT security policy, for example misuse of email, internet browsing and incorrect use of passwords and login details.
“MoJ policy is that staff cannot access social networking sites for personal reasons.”
Barrister aged 84 retires
Friday 12 February 2010 at 7:37 pm | In News | Post Comment
At the Old Bailey in London, Michael Worsley QC took part in his last case when he applied to fix the date of a murder trial.
Mr Worsley was also famous for wearing his “comfortable” sandals around the court, which were not visible in court.
English language tests for aspiring barristers
Friday 12 February 2010 at 7:18 am | In News | 1 Comment
The pilot exams – aimed at preventing applicants with mediocre linguistic abilities from winning a place – will be introduced this month.
They have been launched following complaints that many students on the respected £15,000 course are unable to express themselves coherently, a major handicap in a profession so reliant on public speaking.
Dr Valerie Shrimplin, from the Bar Standards Board, said it wanted to encourage a diverse range of students but they needed to be proficient in English.
She said much of the course revolved around role-play to re-create a court room scene which meant those who struggled with the language hampered others.
“Language has been a problem,” she said. “Language is a key skill, it is not as if students are on a computer course – for this course it is crucial.
“We like to think that everybody should look at the Bar of England and Wales as the gold standard.”
The pilot exams follow a 2008 survey in which many trainee barristers claimed that a number of their fellow students would never succeed in the courtroom because of their poor language skills.
All candidates, enrolling on the BVC since 2009, for whom English or Welsh is not their first language must demonstrate that they have attained a minimum 7.5 IELTS standard in all sections of the test.
Reported in FT here
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
Friday 12 February 2010 at 7:08 am | In News | Post Comment
SIs – 11/02/2010
This Order brings into force on 15th February 2010 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 s.10 (power to order conviction etc to be publicised).
It also provides that section 10 has no effect in relation to an offence under that Act committed before that date.
The Lord Chief Justice criticises use of out of court penalties
Thursday 4 February 2010 at 9:20 pm | In News | Post Comment
In his first report since becoming head of the judiciary, The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said he was ‘troubled’ by the growing use of out of court penalties.
Lord Judge became the latest high profile figure to express concern over the use of on-the-spot fines and cautions and said he was “troubled” by their increased use. He said some cases should have been brought before the courts.
It echoes comments from Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and magistrates but, as the country’s most senior judge, Lord Judge’s comments will be seen by many as the most significant yet.
In his first report since becoming head of the judiciary, Lord Judge said:
“For some time I have been troubled by the increased use of fixed penalty notices, cautions and conditional cautions in cases that should have been brought before the courts.
I have said publicly that any assault which causes injury should be dealt with by a court.
Telegraph report here
Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^