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
'Criminal barristers prepared to walk out over fees'
Nearly all of the 2,050 barristers who prosecute responded to the Criminal Bar Association's survey on prosecution fees, the association said. When asked if they were prepared to take action - potentially up to and including no returns and days of action - 94.8% said yes. When asked if they believe the current remuneration rates for prosecution advocacy reflect the demands skill and responsibility the work involves, 99.3% said no.
The workload over the past five years had increased for 84.2% of respondents, with nearly all saying they were spending more time dealing with unused material. Eight in 10 respondents said they did not feel valued by the Crown Prosecution Service.
'Greater Manchester Police chief: 60% of crimes not investigated'
More than 40% of crimes reported to Greater Manchester Police are not fully investigated because of a lack of resources, it has said.
Chief constable Ian Hopkins said budget cuts have meant officers had to prioritise more ruthlessly than ever. He said about 430 offences a day, such as thefts from vehicles, were being "screened out" and not pursued because "we don't have enough officers".
The number of frontline police officers across England and Wales has fallen over the past decade, while violent crime is rising. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it had lost about 2,000 officers during that time, down to about 6,200.
Cases
Sentencing Remarks in R v Chris Davies MP
In March 2016, less than 12 months after you were first elected as a member of the House of Commons, you committed an offence contrary to the Parliamentary Standards Act 2010, and attempted to commit another. Both offences resulted from the same transaction and may have been designed to enable you to spend your whole budgets, or to conceal the fact that you had spent £700 of taxpayers’ money on photographs for your constituency office, or perhaps both.
For whatever reason, you decided to create two bogus invoices which would split the sum between the two budgets. This would not benefit you financially because they amounted to the sum which you had actually agreed to pay and the money was in fact paid.
Your offence is serious enough to require a community order and you will be subject to a requirement to complete 50 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months... There will also be a fine of £1,500, with a term of imprisonment of 42 days in default of payment... You will pay prosecution costs in the sum of £2,500.
Education
'London’s 2011 riots: Report blames deprivation and poor policing – not mad, bad, dangerous people'
At the time of the 2011 London riots, many commentators and politicians blamed the rioters rather than looking for underlying causes. However, a three-year research project suggests this was mistaken. Stephen Reicher, of the University of St Andrews; Clifford Stott, of Keele University, and John Drury, of the University of Sussex, explain their findings.
In short, then, the 2011 riots arose out of a combination of economic and social policies (riots were more likely to occur in more deprived boroughs), of policing policies (riots were more likely to occur in boroughs with higher rates of stop and search), and of a failure to engage with the community before and after the death of Duggan.
Sponsored
Crime Fees 3 - Crown Court Fees Calculator for iOS and Android
Crime Fees enables criminal barristers in England and Wales to easily calculate Crown Court advocate fees for both prosecution and defence. All fee schemes are covered: the CPS Scheme C, the new December 2018 AGFS (Scheme 11), the April 2018 AGFS (Scheme 10), and the old 2012 AGFS (Scheme 9).