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A free weekly collection of criminal law links - for practitioners, law students, and anyone with an interest in the criminal justice system of England and Wales.
Curated by Sam Willis, a barrister at 5 King's Bench Walk.
News
'Pet abduction to be made new criminal offence in crackdown on pet theft'
A new criminal offence for pet abduction is set to be introduced under government plans to crack down on pet theft following a reported rise in pets being stolen during the pandemic. The new law will recognise the welfare of animals and that pets are valued as more than property.
The new offence is one of several recommendations in a report published today by the Government’s Pet Theft Taskforce which was launched in May 2021. The Taskforce, made up of officials from Defra, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice along with operational partners including the police CPS, Border Force and Local Government, considered evidence from academics, animal welfare organisations, campaign groups, enforcement agencies and industry experts.
'Priti Patel orders review into effects of nitrous oxide'
Possession of nitrous oxide, one of the most popular drugs among 16- to 24-year-olds, could be criminalised after the home secretary ordered experts to review its effects. Priti Patel said she was ready to “take tough action” on the widespread use of laughing gas, which is taken mostly through balloons filled from small metal cylinders often seen littering areas around nightclubs and music festivals.
More than half a million 16- to 24-year-olds – almost one in 10 – reported taking the drug in 2019-20 and Patel has asked the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to review its harms. Only last July the government said it had no plans to criminalise possession of the gas, which is widely available online to produce whipped cream. Supply of nitrous oxide for its psychoactive effects is already illegal under 2016 legislation to crack down on legal highs, but if possession were to be criminalised it would probably bracket the substance with cannabis and other illegal narcotics.
'PC Harper's widow vows to continue push for law change'
PC Andrew Harper's widow has vowed to continue her bid to get the law changed on the anniversary of launching her Harper's Law campaign. PC Harper was dragged to his death by a getaway car in August 2019. Three teenagers were jailed for between 13 and 16 years for his manslaughter. Lissie Harper wants life sentences for people who kill emergency workers. She said she would pursue the change "until Harper's Law is written in the history books"...
Home Secretary Priti Patel and the Justice Secretary, Robert Buckland QC, met with Mrs Harper in November and have backed her campaign but proposals are yet to come before parliament.
'Judge orders neo-Nazi terror offender to read classic literature or face prison'
A neo-Nazi terror offender has been ordered to read literary classics including Jane Austen and Charles Dickens or face going to jail. Ben John was handed a suspended prison sentence for possessing a terrorist document, meaning he will not be jailed unless he breaks the conditions imposed by the court and a five-year Serious Crime Prevention Order.
Leicester Crown Court heard the 21-year-old student had amassed a wealth of white supremacist, antisemitic and satanic material, as well as explosives manuals. Judge Timothy Spencer QC told Tuesday’s sentencing hearing John had avoided imprisonment by the “skin of his teeth”. In an exchange with the defendant reported by the Leicester Mercury, the judge asked him to promise to stop reading extreme right-wing material.
Education
Pandemic pushed defendants to plead guilty more often, including innocent people pleading to crimes they didn’t commit
Despite a constitutional right to a jury trial, more than 94% of criminal convictions in the United States result from guilty pleas, not jury verdicts. Even innocent people, those who did not commit the crimes of which they are accused, can plead guilty – and they do...
To examine whether COVID-19 exacerbated the innocence problem in guilty pleas among a larger sample of potential defendants, we used a computerized simulation platform of legal procedures funded by the National Science Foundation and developed at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. More than 700 U.S. adults agreed to participate in our study, and we randomly assigned them to be either innocent or guilty of stealing a pair of sunglasses. In the simulation, all participants were detained before trial, then offered a plea deal to be immediately released.
Among both guilty and innocent conditions, we further randomly informed half of the participants about the complications related to COVID-19 – that the jail was currently having an outbreak of coronavirus and court dates had been pushed back because of the pandemic.
The results confirmed that both guilty and innocent participants were more likely to plead guilty when warned of the increased complications posed by COVID-19. Further, innocent participants ranked the pandemic as a more important factor in shaping their decision to plead than guilty participants.