Issue 287  1st April 2023

'Remote hearings have "no impact" on outcomes of Crown Court cases'

Judges and lawyers can be reassured that holding Crown Court hearings and trials remotely makes no difference to the outcome, a major analysis has concluded. There are few “meaningful differences” in either the efficiency or effectiveness of hearings – including rates of convictions, acquittals or not-guilty verdicts... The Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) statistical analysis encompassed Crown Court hearings between January 2020 to March 2022 and looked at the impact of remote hearings – defined as one where any participant was remote – on effectiveness (the outcomes for defendants) and efficiency (the duration of hearings and cases)...

Remote hearings were generally 20% quicker than in-person hearings (23.6 minutes against 29.5 minutes), even though a third of listing officers surveyed for the research said they actually listed remote hearings for a longer time than in-person hearings... The MoJ acknowledged that “it may be difficult to utilise any small reductions in individual hearing durations in real-world court setting, where both remote and in-person hearings take place.” At the same time, “knowledge of remote hearings being on average shorter than matched in-person hearings may assist in more efficient running of Crown Courts”. The MoJ said other research suggested that remote hearings could have benefits for some court users...

'Action plan to crack down on anti-social behaviour and restore pride in communities'

Perpetrators of anti-social behaviour will face swift and visible justice, increased fines and enhanced drug testing as part of a new crackdown launched by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today (Monday 27 March). Delivering on the Prime Minister’s pledge earlier this year to clamp down on these crimes, the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, will make sure that this issue is treated with the urgency it deserves, establish a zero tolerance approach to all forms of anti-social behaviour, and give the police and local authorities the tools they need to tackle the problem.

Under the plan, 16 areas in England and Wales will be funded to support either new ‘hotspot’ police and enforcement patrols in areas with the highest rates of anti-social behaviour, or trial a new ‘Immediate Justice’ scheme to deliver swift and visible punishments. A select few areas will trial both interventions, and following these initial trailblazers, both schemes will be rolled out across England and Wales from 2024...

Under the zero-tolerance approach, Nitrous oxide or “laughing gas” will also be banned to send a clear message to intimidating gangs, that hang around high streets and children’s parks and litter them with empty canisters, that they will not get away with this behaviour. The drug is now the third most used among 16 to 24-year-olds in England and both the police and public have repeatedly reported links between use of the drug and nuisance or anti-social behaviour...

'Victims placed at heart of justice system under radical shakeup'

Victims’ voices will be cemented at the heart of the justice system following an overhaul of legislation which will put the principles of the Victims’ Code on a statutory footing and toughen the parole system. The Victims and Prisoners Bill introduced today (29 March 2023) will fundamentally transform victims’ experience of the criminal justice system. Legislation will enshrine the principles of the Victims’ Code in law, give ministers powers to direct the inspection of justice agencies that are failing victims, and create better oversight of those agencies.

The parole system will also be overhauled allowing ministers to block the release of the most dangerous offenders including murderers, rapists, and terrorists - putting public protection back as the overriding focus of the parole process. The bill will also legislate for a new release test for the Parole Board making it clear that public safety is the only priority when making release decisions – to stop a balancing exercise taking into account prisoners’ rights. The new legislation will also stop prisoners serving whole-life orders from marrying or forming a civil partnership in prison. This will deny these criminals the important life events they stole from their victims while ensuring their horrific crimes are treated with the seriousness they deserve...

'Corporate criminal liability reform still on agenda, government insists'

Proposals to widen the scope of corporate criminal liability are still on the agenda, the government has insisted in its latest strategy for tackling economic crime. The three-year plan published today states that the government will build on the ‘strongest options’ presented by the Law Commission last June. This would include legislation on the ‘identification doctrine’ to enable large corporations to be prosecuted.

Other pledges in the Economic Crime Plan 2 include measures to make the disclosure process more manageable in this digital age. The government will explore options for both ‘legislative and non-legislative reforms’. Further details will be set out in the upcoming Fraud Strategy. On money laundering, the plan states that the National Economic Crime Centre ‘will work to understand the threat of professional enablers through an improved intelligence picture and increase investigative capacity, working in collaboration with the public and private sectors’. Meanwhile a new ‘multi-agency cell’ will tackle the crimes involving cryptoassets. Illicit cryptoasset transactions linked to the UK were officially valued at £1.24bn in 2021 - though the plan states there is ‘a realistic possibility’ that the figure is significantly higher...

'Police strip-searching children as young as eight'

Children as young as eight are being stopped and strip-searched by police according to a report which warns that officers are abusing their powers. A total of 2,847 youths have been targeted in England and Wales in the past four years and nearly a quarter were aged between 10 and 15. Black children are disproportionately more likely to be subjected to strip searches by police officers, with black boys accounting for more than a third — 37 per cent — of the cases. According to the analysis from Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner, black children were six times more likely to be strip-searched compared with national population figures...

The report can be read here.