Issue 405  5th July 2025

The head of the body responsible for investigating potential miscarriage of justices in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has resigned following months of criticism. Karen Kneller stood down as chief executive of the embattled Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) after 12 years in the role. There had been calls for her to resign when the CCRC admitted "failing" Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit despite serious concerns the evidence against him was flawed. In May, the justice select committee said the organisation had shown an "inability to learn from its own mistakes" on Ms Kneller's watch and called for her to go. She has not commented since her departure was confirmed.

Dame Vera Baird, who was appointed chair of the CCRC last month and tasked with leading a review of it, said: "The CCRC has a vital role to play in the criminal justice system, but confidence in the organisation has been badly damaged. Confidence in our work must be restored." Ms Kneller's resignation is the second highest profile departure at the review body this year. In January, Helen Pitcher quit as CCRC chair after an independent panel found it had let Mr Malkinson down. The 59-year-old was accused of raping a woman in Greater Manchester in 2003, and later jailed for life despite no DNA linking him to the crime. He was released in December 2020. While Mr Malkinson was in jail, the CCRC twice rejected his submissions that he was innocent - the second of which was after Mrs Pitcher became chair...

Tracking devices inserted under offenders’ skin, robots assigned to contain prisoners and driverless vehicles used to transport them were among the measures proposed by technology companies to ministers who are gathering ideas to tackle the crisis in the UK justice system. The proposals were made at a meeting of more than two dozen tech companies in London last month, chaired by the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, minutes seen by the Guardian show. Amid an acute shortage of prison places and probation officers under severe strain, ministers told the companies they wanted ideas for using wearable technologies, behaviour monitoring and geolocation to create a “prison outside of prison”.

Those present included representatives of Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Palantir, which works closely with the US military and has contracts with the NHS. IBM and the private prison operator Serco also attended alongside tagging and biometric companies, according to a response to a freedom of information request. Mahmood told the tech companies she wants “deeper collaboration between government and tech to solve the prison capacity crisis, reduce reoffending and make communities safer”. She invited them to “scale and improve” the existing use of tagging “not just for monitoring but to drive rehabilitation and reduce crime”. The prisons minister, James Timpson, called for a “tech-led approach to justice”...

With the support of Word 4 Weapons and FazAmnesty, young people will be able to anonymously hand in any weapons to surrender bins or a purpose-built and fully secure van, across London, Greater Manchester and West Midlands – the 3 highest areas for knife crime in England. Part of the government’s most ambitious surrender scheme yet and Plan for Change, the 37 new amnesty bins and the locations of the mobile surrender van will be strategically placed in these high-risk areas throughout July, in partnership with local councils, to provide young people with an accessible, alternative way to hand in weapons without needing to go to a police station. Throughout the month the government’s Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime and other grassroots organisations will be using their platform as trusted voices in communities to encourage young people to hand in their weapons via these routes, while signposting them to local support services.

From 1 August 2025, deadly ninja swords will be banned in full – illegal to possess in public or private – and so, in addition to the surrender arrangements across the 3 hotspot areas, people will also be able to hand in ninja swords to designated police stations across the country...

A draft proscription order has been laid in Parliament which will proscribe Palestine Action (PA), as well as two further groups: the Maniacs Murder Cult (MMC) and the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM).  This will make it a criminal offence to be a member of one of these groups or to invite or recklessly express support for them. Parliament will now consider and debate the draft Order and if passed, the Order will make it an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison to belong to or support the groups...