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
'Autumn statement: Real terms cut for justice spending'
The cash-strapped Ministry of Justice faces a real-terms spending cut next year, HM Treasury has revealed following today's autumn statement. The MoJ's day-to-day spending budget, £9.4bn for 2022/23 will rise by 4% in 2023/24 to £9.8bn. The following year will see the budget rise by just 2% to £10bn. The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts an inflation rate of 7.4% next year. Lawyers' leaders, who this week called for recognition of justice as a key public service, condemned the cuts. However the capital budget will rise by 35% in 2023/24 to £2.3bn before falling in 2024/25 to £1.5bn. The latter figure is less than capital spending is forecast to be this year (£1.7bn). Justice was one of the worst-hit victims of post-2008 crash austerity, with its overall budget plunging 25% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2019-20...
'Judicial salary review put on hold until next year'
The review of the judicial salary structure has been put on hold until a new judicial lead and permanent chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body are appointed, the lord chancellor has revealed. In an open letter to SSRB’s interim chair Pippa Lambert, Dominic Raab requested recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for all judicial office holders, setting a deadline of May 2023. He said: 'I understand your concerns about starting a major review before a new judicial lead and permanent chair of the SSRB are appointed and so have taken the decision not to commission such a review this year. 'However, I am mindful that such a review should be undertaken at the earliest opportunity.'
The last major review was in 2018, where issues of recruitment particularly at High Court circuit and district bench level, were highlighted. Raab’s letter added: 'The demands on the courts mean that we continue to face some shortfalls in the Circuit Bench and the District Bench, and the level of fee paid judges applying for salaried office continues to be an issue. ’These areas would be a likely focus of a future major review.' Judges recieved a 3% rise in 2022/23 - a figure significantly below the then 9.4% rate of inflation and less than the recommendations set out by the SSRB...
'Almost 1,000 prison leavers tagged in first year of drive to cut booze-fuelled crime'
Nearly 1,000 prison leavers have been tagged in the first year of a scheme designed to crackdown on booze-fuelled crime. Under the scheme, offenders released from prison are fitted with alcohol monitoring tags if their probation officer thinks they are likely to reoffend when drinking. Those who break the rules set by the Probation Service around their drinking face being sent back to jail.
The initiative was launched in Wales last November and rolled out to England in June as part of government plans to stamp out the scourge of alcohol-related crime. Alcohol plays a part in 39 per cent of all violent crime in the UK and roughly 20 per cent of offenders supervised by the Probation Service are classed as having an alcohol problem. Around 12,000 orders requiring offenders to wear alcohol tags are expected to be issued over the next three years, covering both prison leavers and those serving community sentences...
'Urgent Notification: HM Prison Exeter'
In accordance with the Protocol between HM Chief Inspector of Prisons and the Ministry of Justice dated October 2019, I am writing to you to invoke the Urgent Notification process as result of our unannounced inspection of HMP Exeter between 31st October and 11th November. The protocol sets out that this letter will be placed in the public domain, and that the Secretary of State commits to respond publicly within 28 calendar days. This prison was subject to an urgent notification in 2018 and this is the first time we have needed to repeat the protocol in consecutive inspections of an adult male prison. At our last inspection, we found that the prison was not safe, and I am disappointed to report that, four years later, this remains the case...
Cases
R v Hussain [2022] EWCA Crim 1110
... As to the first ground, the judge did not fall into error, or even arguable error, in permitting the prosecution to present their case as they did. In R v Jurecka, this court confirmed that working documents may be placed before the jury by one party to a trial, provided that the nature and source of the document is made clear and the jury are reminded, where appropriate, that the document is not agreed. The court said that such documents should be confined to a convenient reminder to the jury of the facts relied upon by the party concerned and, "in brief and neutral terms", the inferences which the party contended could be drawn from those facts.
Here, the prosecution case was that the features of clothing etc enabled the jury to be sure of the identities of those shown in the video and of the cameraman who was recording the activity. It was perfectly permissible for the prosecution to colour code the men shown in the slow motion video and to explain the features relied on to identify them, and the cameraman. Many cases involving photographic evidence, for example, CCTV footage, are presented in a similar way. It is difficult to see how else the prosecution could intelligibly have presented their case here. Where identification is not admitted, it must of course be made clear that a video of this kind is merely a presentation of the prosecution case and that it is for the jury to decide whether they can be sure that an alleged identification is correct. If specific contrary arguments are put forward, for example, that a particular garment shown in one frame is not the same as a garment shown in another frame, or that footwear said to match that of D1 in fact matches that worn by D2, the issue should be clearly identified for the jury. But it is, with respect, unrealistic to suggest that the applicant's case would have been unfairly prejudiced merely because a presentational aid, used to explain why the prosecution contended that individuals could be identified, included texts stating the names which the prosecution ascribed to the colour-coded figures. The showing of the slow-motion video did not prevent the applicant from maintaining his stance of non-admission of being the cameraman. He makes no complaints about the terms in which the judge directed the jury in this respect...
Niagui v Governor of HMP Wandsworth [2022] EWHC 2911 (Admin)
This judgment relates to an application for a writ of habeas corpus, which was made to me as King's Bench Division duty judge on Saturday 5 November 2022. I fixed a substantive hearing for Monday 7 November 2022. Shortly before that hearing, the claimant was released, so it was not necessary to issue the writ or make any other order. Nonetheless, I indicated that I would give a written judgment because it has now become clear that the claimant was unlawfully detained for the best part of three days in circumstances which gave and continue to give serious cause for concern...
... The claimant was not released on Sunday 6 November and remained in custody until very shortly before the hearing fixed for 2pm on Monday 7 November. At that hearing, Mr Levy informed me of the claimant's release and said that he would therefore not be pursuing the application for a writ of habeas corpus. He submitted that the circumstances were far from satisfactory and invited me to make an order for costs in his favour. Colin Thomann, for the Governor, acknowledged that there was no authority to detain the claimant once he had been acquitted and proposed that what went wrong be investigated and set out in witness evidence, which would also explain the steps being taken to ensure that there was no repetition...
Other
'Criminal Justice Statistics quarterly: June 2022'
This publication provides criminal justice statistics for the latest 12-month period, presented alongside the same 12-month period for the previous year... The number of individuals formally dealt with by the CJS in England and Wales, increased by 6% in the latest year, although this figure is still below pre-COVID levels... In the latest year, 39% of defendants were remanded in custody at Crown Court. The number of defendants remanded in custody at Crown Court increased across all offence types... The ACSL for indictable offences has consistently risen over the last 10 years, up by 8.7 months from 17.0 months in 2012...