Issue 95  22nd June 2019

The ballot on the Government’s offer to the profession will open today at 17:00 and you will be sent a link to it then. It will close at 17:00 on Thursday 27th June. The results will be validated and will be announced on the 1st July.

The most senior criminal judge in England and Wales has expressed "enormous concern" that many crimes are not being prosecuted. Sir Brian Leveson, who retires on Friday as Head of Criminal Justice, has warned the system could collapse without investment. He also told the BBC the government would be wrong to abolish prison sentences of less than six months.

Last year a report from the Bar Council found the Ministry of Justice had sustained 27% cuts in real terms over a decade and the Crown Prosecution Service 34%. Between September 2010 and September 2017, the number of police officers in England and Wales fell by almost 20,000, according to the Home Office. Home Office figures also suggested 9% of reported crimes result in a charge or summons - the lowest detection rate since 2015.

Sajid Javid today announced he has provisionally allocated £35 million to Police and Crime Commissioners in 18 local areas to set up violence reduction units.

Violence reduction units will take a multi-agency approach, bringing together police, local government, health, community leaders and other key partners to tackle violent crime and its underlying causes... Violence reduction units will be responsible for identifying the drivers of serious violence locally and developing a coordinated response to tackle them.

Police have suspended work with the UK's biggest private forensic company following a cyber-attack on the firm. The suspension has led to delays in forensic testing, which could impact on court cases.

Eurofins, which caters for over 50% of the UK market, deals with over 70,000 criminal cases in the UK each year. A spokesperson added: "The CPS is assessing current cases to identify any impact on criminal trials as a result of this attack, and will ensure all necessary action is taken to allow them to proceed fairly."

In October 2018, we decided to conduct a short follow-up inquiry to allow us to gain a broad understanding of the main issues now facing the magistracy and establish what progress had been made since October 2016.

We recommend that the Ministry of Justice increase its funding to HMCTS and the Judicial Office to allow additional investment in magistrates’ training...

We consider that short custodial sentences are less effective than community sentences, but in cases where custody is unavoidable we consider that magistrates should have the power to impose custodial sentences of up to 12 months in cases that would otherwise be sent to the Crown Court for sentencing. As part of its review of sentencing, the Government should implement this measure, subject to establishing a positive evidential basis for doing this from a suitable modelling exercise on the effects of such a step...

A new report by Lord Michael Farmer on the value of prisoners’ family ties has found that healthy relationships are a ‘must have’ when it comes to preventing women from reoffending.

Prisoners who receive family visits are 39% less likely to reoffend, and research suggests that these relationships are even more important for women than they are for men. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has committed to taking forward the wide-ranging recommendations to boost rehabilitation and divert women away from crime.

A student who claimed he was producing props for a university film project has pleaded guilty to making two guns using a 3D printer.

In the first case of its kind Tendai Muswere admitted using the printer to make a revolver and a handgun out of plastic resin at his London flat... During the search they found components for a 3D printed gun capable of firing a lethal shot