About
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
'Barristers in England and Wales to vote on ending strike after new pay offer'
Criminal barristers in England and Wales will vote on whether to end their indefinite strike action after the government proposed a new package of reforms and legal aid fees. A further investment of £54m has been proposed after discussions between the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Industrial action began in April after the government failed to meet barrister’s demand to raise legal aid fees, with the CBA citing years of underfunding...
'Victims ‘denied justice’ as only 3.5 per cent of burglaries end in charges'
Burglary victims are being denied the “justice they deserve” as an average of 3.5 per cent of house break-ins resulted in criminal charges, figures reveal. Police have recorded 1.76 million residential burglaries in England and Wales in the past five years — but 1.41 million victims had their case closed without the suspect being identified.
Just 1.7 per cent of break-ins reported to West Mercia police and Hampshire police ended with a suspect being charged in the year to March, according to data obtained by the Liberal Democrats. Wiltshire police charged just 28 people in those 12 months — despite 1,103 domestic burglaries reported during that period. North Yorkshire police issued charges in 31 of the 1,307 (2.3 per cent) residential raids reported to the force. South Wales police said 7.6 per cent burglaries ended in prosecution — the highest charging rate of all forces...
'Police in England and Wales pledge to attend every home burglary'
Police chiefs in England and Wales have pledged to send an officer to every single burgled home. The pledge commits forces to sending an officer to investigate every report of home burglary, regardless of location and what has been stolen. All 43 forces agreed to the commitment at last week's meeting of the National Police Chiefs' Council. Its chairman Martin Hewitt said the move was aimed at giving people "peace of mind".
The pledge follows a report from the police watchdog in August which found most victims of burglary, theft and robbery in England and Wales were not being given the justice they deserve. The findings from His Majesty's Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) showed while some forces tackle these crimes well, many do not. In the year to March, Home Office figures showed just 6.3% of robbery offences and 4.1% of thefts in England and Wales resulted in charges, while recent figures found police attendance at burglaries in London had fallen to 50%...
'Suella Braverman to consider giving anonymity to suspected criminals'
Suspected criminals could be given legal anonymity until charged under plans being considered by ministers. Home Secretary Suella Braverman said current rules can lead to a “media circus” and jeopardise a fair trial. Ms Braverman told an audience of Young Conservatives at the party conference in Birmingham that “trial by media will only undermine our justice system”. She said: “We have had some high-profile instances where the media circus around a suspect who has not been charged has been devastating.” She made the comments in response to a question referring to the cases of Cliff Richard and Harvey Proctor, who were falsely accused and never charged.
'Thousands more neighbourhood criminals to be GPS tracked in expansion of tagging project'
Under this expansion of this Government’s Acquisitive Crime GPS tagging project, 2,000 more criminals will have their whereabouts monitored on leaving custody – another important step forward in the use of technology to drive down re-offending rates and protect our communities. Under the current system, only criminals with sentences of a year or more can be monitored via electronic tags on release under the scheme. The changes announced today will see offenders with sentences of 90 days or more eligible to be tagged – dramatically cutting the existing sentence threshold by nine months.
Tags for criminals who carry out theft, burglary, and robbery offences - known as acquisitive crimes - were introduced last year. They work by tracking the physical movements of offenders so police can find out if any tagged offenders were in the vicinity of a crime. The technology also allows probation staff to keep a much closer eye on the whereabouts of offenders under their supervision – meaning they are better able to prevent ex-criminals from falling back into a life of crime...
Cases
AG's Reference on a Point of Law No. 1 of 2022 [2022] EWCA Crim 1259
This is a reference in which His Majesty's Attorney General seeks the opinion of the court on three questions of law which are said to have arisen from a trial in Bristol Crown Court of four protestors for allegations of criminal damage to a statue of Edward Colston. The issue, in short, concerns the extent to which the European Convention on Human Rights ("the Convention") sanctions the use of violence against property during protest, thereby rendering lawful causing damage to property which would otherwise be a crime. Causing damage to property is a criminal offence pursuant to the Criminal Damage Act 1971 subject to a defence of "lawful excuse"...
... The first question asks whether once the prosecution has proved the two main ingredients for the offence of criminal damage under section 1(1) namely (a) that the defendant destroyed or damaged property belonging to another and (b) did so intentionally or recklessly, no question of proportionality under the Convention can arise... We have concluded that prosecution and conviction for causing significant damage to property during protest would fall outside the protection of the Convention either because the conduct in question was violent or not peaceful, alternatively (even if theoretically peaceful) prosecution and conviction would clearly be proportionate...
... The Convention does not provide protection to those who cause criminal damage during protest which is violent or not peaceful. Neither does it provide protection when the damage is inflicted violently or not peacefully. Articles 9, 10 and 11 are not engaged in those circumstances and no question of proportionality arises. Moreover, prosecution and conviction for causing significant damage to property, even if inflicted in a way which is "peaceful" could not, in our view, be disproportionate in Convention terms. Given the nature of cases that are heard in the Crown Court it is inevitable that, for one or both of these reasons, the issue should not be left to the jury. That will be because the conduct in question was on any view not peaceful, alternatively the damage was significant, or both. It is at least theoretically possible that cases involving minor or trivial damage to property may arise in the Magistrates' Court albeit that the threshold of "significant damage" would be crossed a long way below that statutory divide. In those circumstances, the Strasbourg case law suggests that conviction may not be a proportionate response in the context of protest although sentence has been the focus in determining proportionality. Whatever may be the position with public property, we cannot conceive that the Convention could be used to protect from prosecution and conviction those who damage private property to any degree than is other than trivial. It is essential that prosecutorial discretion on whether to proceed to trial be exercised carefully, applying the Code for Crown Prosecutors in the context of the principles governing articles 9, 10 and 11 with a clear eye on the proportionality of prosecution and conviction...
Other
'Rise of plea-bargaining coerces young defendants into guilty pleas, says report'
Young prisoners in England and Wales are being rushed into guilty pleas under US-style bargaining arrangements, with some defendants said to be given just 30 minutes to decide, it is claimed. Survey results and focus group discussions with those serving sentences has raised concerns about a lack of informed choice in a criminal justice system that incentivises an early guilty plea...
The model of plea bargaining, made famous courtesy of US courtroom dramas, where defendants effectively negotiate with prosecutors over charges and potential sentences is increasingly being followed around the world. Such bargaining is not officially part of the system in England and Wales, except in complex fraud cases, but the judicial sentencing guidelines suggests those who plead guilty at the earliest hearing over other crimes may be given a reduction of up to a third of their sentence. There is a sliding scale of sentence reductions as criminal proceedings continue, and informal bargaining is widespread. A report by the NGO Fair Trials offers anecdotal evidence that defendants are being offered little and rushed advice on their pleas, with scant judicial oversight over the decision-making, raising claims that some are being pushed to admit guilt to crimes they did not commit...