Issue 274  31st December 2022

Labour today declares itself the party of law and order as it pledges to give the victims of antisocial behaviour power to decide how perpetrators are punished. The party will update Tony Blair’s “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” mantra with a series of policies aimed at seizing the initiative from the Conservatives. Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, told The Times how the party would crack down on antisocial behaviour, which polls consistently show is one of the public’s top concerns...

Labour believes that it can capitalise politically on the issue and Reed said that increasing and strengthening the use of community sentences would achieve a double win by tackling reoffending rates and giving “a voice directly to victims”. He said: “Victims will be able to select the unpaid work that offenders carry out, so victims will be seeing justice done.” At present, community sentences can include clearing wasteland, decorating community centres, repairing churches or removing graffiti. The scope of work would be widened under Labour’s plans...

Victims would also sit on new community payback boards that would oversee community sentences and make sure that offenders complete unpaid work. These boards would be given the power to hold local services and companies accountable for failing to enforce the terms of community sentences in full...

Around 1,800 offenders are wearing alcohol tags over the festive period as part of the government’s drive to protect the public from drink-fuelled crime. Statistics released this morning show how many offenders have been made to wear a tag over the Christmas and New Year period, which work by monitoring the alcohol content in an individual’s sweat...

Last Christmas around 800 offenders wore the device, just 12 months later the figure has more than doubled – helping to tackle alcohol-related crime over the festive period. The tags are accurate enough to distinguish between foods that contain low-levels of alcohol – such as brandy sauce on Christmas Pudding – and drinks such as mulled wine that offenders could get drunk from. Offenders banned from alcohol by the courts have stayed sober on 97% of the days they were tagged, but those who do drink can face returning to court for further punishment, including prison...

The role of a victims’ champion in England and Wales has been “deceptively and deliberately” undermined, leaving people affected by crime voiceless in the corridors of power, the outgoing victims’ commissioner has said. In her first major interview since stepping down from the role in September, Dame Vera Baird accused the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, of seeking a “puppet on a string” while he undermined the rights of victims with his proposed bill of rights. Baird said the victims’ bill going through parliament was vital legislation that could have helped improve outcomes for victims of crime. But she said Raab had “played fast and loose” with the bill and that it had been weakened by the government’s failure to maintain a representative of victims’ voices at the heart of government...

One of the country’s biggest legal aid providers has been bought as part of a pre-pack administration arranged this week. Cartwright King, which operates from 11 offices across England, was placed into administration yesterday after several months of financial struggles. Joint administrators from restructuring firm BDO LLP have completed the sale of the business and assets in a pre-pack deal to AWH Acquisition Corp. The firm will continue to trade under the Cartwright King name. All 80 employees will transfer and AWH will act as a successor practice, serving existing clients...