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New Criminal Justice Initiatives

New Criminal Justice Initiatives. It has been a busy week for new policy announcements, with these coming from the Ministry of Justice in the last few days. Prison leavers tagged to cut alcohol-fuelled crime Prison leavers will be ordered to wear a sobriety tag, which monitors alcohol levels in sweat, if their probation officer thinks they […]

Corporate Criminal Liability

Corporate Criminal Liability. The general rule for attributing liability to companies in English and Welsh criminal law is the ‘identification principle’. This states that where a particular mental state is required, only the acts of a senior person representing the company’s “controlling mind and will” can be attributed to the company. In practice, this is […]

New airport-style security in prisons sees record level of drug seizures

New airport-style security in prisons sees record level of drug seizures. Over the last two years, over 70 X-ray body scanners have been installed in all closed male prisons, producing high-quality images of concealed contraband so that prison officers can easily find and stop dangerous items from entering jails. These scanners have prevented over 19000 attempts […]

Causing Death by Dangerous Driving

Causing Death by Dangerous Driving. The offence of causing death by dangerous driving currently carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. In a recent case (Hughes [2022] EWCA Crim 538) the sentencing judge adopted a starting point of 14 years (the maximum) before discounting it for a guilty plea. During the Crown’s opening, when reference […]

Burglary – New Sentencing Guidelines

Burglary – New Sentencing Guidelines. Revised sentencing guidelines for domestic, non-domestic and aggravated burglary offences in England and Wales, which come into effect on 1 July 2022 (for persons sentenced on or after that date), have been published by the Sentencing Council following consultation. The revised guidelines follow the newer stepped format of more recent […]

Facial Recognition

Facial Recognition. The College of Policing has published a guide to the use of live facial recognition technology. The guide is intended to ensure a consistent approach across forces with a clear legal and ethical framework. The College sets out five aims for the guidance: live facial recognition (LFR) technology should be used in a responsible, […]

Parole Reform

Parole Reform.The Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, has announced a reform package for the parole system. A “Root and Branch” review focussed on the following areas: An evaluation of the parole reforms to date – looking at overall performance, the response to the pandemic, the effectiveness of the reconsideration mechanism and any rule changes that would […]

Crackdown on waste crime

Crackdown on waste crime. The Environment Agency Chief Executive, Sir James Bevan, has made a speech on waste crime at an event with Let’s Recycle and the Environmental Services Association. The Executive said that he called waste crime the “new narcotics” six years ago. In the same way, it took some time for the authorities to […]

Drug Driving Crackdown

Drug Driving Crackdown. The Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, has announced a consultation on the issue of whether those convicted of drug driving should have to undergo rehabilitation. Those convicted of drink driving, as opposed to drug driving, are usually offered the drink driver rehabilitation course. If successfully completed within the set time, the offender is […]

Speed Camera Jamming

Speed camera jamming. Jason Moore recently appealed against his conviction for perverting the course of justice. He had fitted a Laser Star to his van. This device has the capacity to jam a speed meter and act as a parking sensor. A number of years later, he drove the van and passed some roadside speed monitoring […]