Month: March 2024

Protest, Criminal Damage and “lawful excuse” . In the case of the Attorney General’s Reference on a Point of Law No 1 of 2023 [2024] EWCA Crim 243, the Court of Appeal considered the defence of “lawful excuse” in the context of criminal damage committed by protestors. In 2020, a group targeted the premises of […]

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Fast Track Justice – For Some The government has introduced the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill before Parliament; if passed, the resultant Act will automatically overturn convictions for certain offences linked to the Post Office Horizon scandal. The Post Office Horizon IT scandal has been described as the one of UK’s most widespread miscarriages […]

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Europol EU Drugs Report The EU retail drug market is estimated to be worth more than EUR 30 billion annually, making it a major source of income for organised crime. Europe occupies a central position in drug supply and trafficking, as evidenced by the large-scale production of cannabis and synthetic drugs within the EU and […]

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Justice on a Budget. The Spring Budget was delivered by the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on the 6th March 2024 and offered little by way of comfort so far as the criminal justice system is concerned. Overall departmental spending is said to rise by 1%, but this is not evenly spread, with protected spending, such as on […]

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New Prisoner Rules 2024. The Prison and Young Offender Institution (Adjudication) (Amendment) Rules 2024 come into force on 31 May 2024 and will make several important changes concerning prisoner discipline and punishment. These changes are intended to improve behaviour management in prisons by ensuring serious offences against discipline are appropriately charged and providing governors with […]

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