Issue 394  19th April 2025

The Times Crime and Justice Summit marked the publication of the final report of the Times Crime and Justice Commission, a year-long inquiry that this week announced a set of ambitious but achievable recommendations to modernise the country’s criminal justice system. The commission was set up in April last year to consider the future of policing, the courts, sentencing and prisons — and draw up proposals for reform...

The commission has been chaired by the Times journalist Rachel Sylvester and supported by a distinguished group of commissioners from the worlds of policing, intelligence, law, business, science, social policy and medicine. With a remit to consider everything from knife crime to violence against women and girls, cybercrime to sentencing, shoplifting to mental health and policing to prisons, the commission has deliberately taken a broad approach rather than focusing on one part of the system. It heard from more than 500 expert witnesses, including chief constables, prison governors, judges, probation officers, politicians, families and victims. There was widespread agreement across specialisms and disciplines that radical reform is needed to fix a broken criminal justice system...

The commission’s ten-point plan for crime and justice

1. Introduce a universal digital ID system to drive down fraud, tackle illegal immigration and reduce identity theft;
2. Target persistent offenders and crime hotspots using data to clamp down on shoplifting, robbery and antisocial behaviour;
3. Roll out live facial recognition and other artificial intelligence tools to drive the efficiency and effectiveness of the police;
4. Create a licence to practise for the police, with revalidation every five years to improve culture and enhance professionalism;
5. Set up victim care hubs backed by a unified digital case file to create a seamless source of information and advice;
6. Introduce a new intermediate court with a judge and two magistrates to speed up justice and reduce court delays;
7. Move to a “common sense” approach to sentencing with greater transparency about jail time, incentives for rehabilitation and expanded use of house arrest;
8. Give more autonomy and accountability to prison governors with a greater focus on rehabilitation and create a College of Prison and Probation Officers;
9. Restrict social media for under-16s to protect children from criminals and extreme violent or sexual content;
10. Raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 to take account of new developments in neuroscience.

All prisoners held in the terrorism prison unit where Manchester Arena bomber Hashem Abedi attacked guards have been moved, the BBC has been told. There were seven prisoners in the HMP Frankland separation centre at the time of Abedi's attack on Saturday, including the extremist preacher Anjem Choudary. The centre has now been emptied and is the subject of an ongoing counter-terrorism investigation into the attack, which saw Abedi throw hot oil at officers and stab them with improvised blades. Abedi himself has been moved to London's high-security Belmarsh prison, while the other six prisoners in have been moved to HMP Woodhill, a source told the BBC.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said there will be a full, independent review into the incident, which has drawn criticism from survivors and the families of victims of the Manchester Arena bombing. Martin Hibbert, a survivor of the 2017 attack, criticised how Abedi was given the "comfort and privilege" of kitchen facilities and said he was furious the pain of survivors was being so "blatantly disrespected"...

A targeted stop and search pilot in Merseyside is drawing to a close, ahead of a decision to roll the post-conviction powers out nationally. Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs) were introduced on Wednesday 19 April 2023 in four areas – Merseyside, Thames Valley, West Midlands and Sussex – for two years. The aim of SVROs was to tackle high-risk, habitual weapons carriers and help drive down reoffending to keep communities safe. During the pilot, courts could grant the civil orders when an adult (aged 18 or over) was convicted of an offence involving a bladed article or offensive weapon...

The change in legislation meant officers could stop and search those with a live order for bladed articles or offensive weapons in a public place. The purpose of taking part in the pilot was to build an understanding of the orders’ impact and effectiveness, ahead of any wider introduction across England and Wales. The two-year pilot ends on Friday 18 April, meaning no new orders can be made to the courts. However, live orders will be phased out over 6 months, ending on Friday 17 October 2025. An evaluation report about the SVRO pilot is due in summer 2025, ahead of a decision by the Government to roll the post-conviction powers out nationally...