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Rights – A Mere Illusion?
The EU has published a report, ‘Rights in practice: access to a lawyer and procedural rights in criminal and European arrest warrant proceedings’, that details the extent to which fundamental human rights, in the context of criminal justice, are upheld across the EU. Why is this important? Protecting the rights of anyone suspected or […]
Delayed Justice
Janet Commins was born on 9 June 1960. On 7 January 1976, shortly after 7.00 pm, she left her home in Flint to meet friends at the local swimming baths. She left a note for her parents, as she often did, to say that she would be back at around 8.30 pm. She saw her […]
The Absent Witness
In some instances, it is not convenient for a witness to be present in court to give evidence, generally because they live or work some distance away from the court, or some other good reason. There are legal provisions that cater for this scenario, and while the prosecution widely uses them (notably for police officers), […]
More Sentences at Risk of Prosecution Appeal
The prosecution, via the Attorney General, has the right to ask the Court of Appeal to consider whether sentences for certain offences are unduly lenient. How does the scheme work? Anyone can ask the Attorney General to consider whether a sentence is unduly lenient. If the Attorney agrees an appeal will be lodged within 28 […]
Gait analysis
What is gait? Gait, quite simply, is how a person walks, the movement of limbs. How does this relate to criminal law? With the ever-increasing use of CCTV, the identification of offenders from footage is also increasing. Sometimes a face cannot clearly be seen, either because it is covered or because the […]
Jury Challenge
It is a common feature of American courtroom drama that a defence attorney moves to remove a juror that they do not like the look of. Many clients wonder whether the same type of challenge can take place in an English courtroom. The Jury Pool In some circumstances there can be a challenge to the […]
The Cut-Throat Defence
A cut-throat defence is where one defendant gives evidence that is damaging to a co-defendant’s case, sometimes going as far as directly accusing the other person of the crime, while typically seeking to exonerate themselves. Such evidence may be given directly by a defendant (or more than one in some cases) as a positive aspect […]
Solicitors, Charlatans and the Internet
We interchangeably use many terms to describe legal professionals: lawyers, solicitors, legal advisers, attorneys (an Americanism), a ‘brief’. There are countless others in common usage. Regrettably, this flexibility with language allows for confusion, and when viewing many legal websites, you would be forgiven for thinking that you are dealing with a qualified legal professional, when […]