News
(Some) Prisoners Given the Vote
The Government has announced that prisoners on Temporary License will now be able to vote. This change has been made to comply with the ECtHR judgment in Hirst, which found that a blanket ban on voting by prisoners was incompatible with the ECHR.
The Government estimates that this change will affect "up to 100 people".
Calls for Combined Family/Youth Problem-Solving Courts
Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, gave the 2017 Parmoor Lecture to the Howard League for Penal Reform. In his speech, he made several suggestions for reform of the youth criminal justice system.
Why, for example, could the Youth Court not be amalgamated in an expanded family court where the process would no longer be criminal and the emphasis could be on problem-solving in the true sense and, as I have suggested, for the entire family, rather than on punishment, or so-called rehabilitation, for the child in the custodial estate so excoriated by the Chief Inspector?
Remorse in the CJS
A lecture by The Hon. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb DBE, examining the nature of remorse, its significance in the criminal justice system & the role of judges who assess it.
Speech at the Criminal Cases Review Commission
Speech by The Rt. Hon. The Lord Burnett of Maldon on the history of criminal appeals.
Cases
R v Chapman [2017] EWCA Crim 1743
Interesting case applying the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 to nitrous oxide.
The case-by-case approach entails the possibility that different products with precisely the same chemical composition may fall within or outside the definition of medicinal product depending on the circumstances.
Other
Legal Aid and Lee Rigby’s Killer
A blog post arguing that legal aid should be available for the murderer of Lee Rigby to sue the Ministry of Justice in a personal injury claim.
Obscurity
Possessing Explosives Under Suspicious Circumstances
Possessing explosives in suspicious circumstances is contrary to section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883