Justice Matters

Michael Beloff QC outlines the duties and challenges awaiting Court of Arbitration for Sport panel members during London 2012 

As London 2012, so long in the gestation is finally brought to birth, a cohort of 12 accomplished lawyers, representing every major continent, will enjoy – if precedent is anything to go by – freedom of the Olympic lanes with personally allotted drivers while Mr and Mrs Public make do with a metropolitan transport system under maximum strain. 

Is rape sentencing unduly lenient? Felicity Gerry and Catarina Sjölin report 

A quick click of the Attorney General’s website gives instant access to statistics for unduly lenient sentences up to and including 2010. During 2010, there were nine rape and attempted rape referrals among the total of 78 cases which went to the Court of Appeal. Of those nine, seven sentences were increased and two remained the same. To give an idea of the other offences referred there were 12 sentences involving robbery (of which 10 were increased, two remained the same) and 18 sentences involved non-fatal offences against the person (of which 12 were increased, two remained the same and one had the conviction quashed). 

Legal professional privilege

The continued use of state powers to erode legal professional privilege must be stopped, as Nicholas Griffin QC and Gordon Nardell QC explain 

The state has the power secretly to listen in to the meetings you hold with your clients in chambers, at a solicitors’ firm or elsewhere. This surprising situation – and the troubling cases that have brought it to light – have led the Bar Council’s Law Reform Committee to consider state powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and have prompted the Bar Council to campaign for a change to the law. 

Benjamin Greenstone questions whether the criminal courts are keeping up with new social media 

While working part time in a Crown Court as a logger and also while Marshalling, I have seen a number of applications to adduce evidence of bad character based on evidence gleaned from social networking sites. This most commonly takes the form of information about who the witnesses and/or defendants are “friends” with on Facebook and who they “follow” on Twitter. 

The importance of recognising young people with speech, language and communication needs is increasingly being accepted and understood by the Youth Justice workforce. Anita Kerwin-Nye explains the benefits for all of raising awareness of this hidden disability 

A court appearance can be a complex and bewildering experience for anyone. But for a young person with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) the process can be a minefield of jargon, misunderstanding and confusion. Research shows that over 60% of young people in the youth justice system have SLCN (Bryan, K 2008). This means they have difficulty communicating with others, a skill most of us take for granted; being able to say what you want and to understand what others are saying are the most important skills we need in life. However, young people with SLCN find it hard to articulate what they want to say, might have difficulty understanding what is being said to them or simply don’t understand social rules such as how to take turns in a conversation or to respond to what the other person has just said. Crucially, they may not be able to communicate effectively at a police interview or a court appearance, which could have profound implications. Indeed as the The Audit Commission Report, A Review of the Reformed Youth Justice, states “If a young person is inarticulate, inhibited or lacks understanding...this may lead to misunderstandings and even the passing of an inappropriate sentence.” 

Child and Youth Justice

There is no longer a presumption against children giving evidence in today’s family courts. Francis Wilkinson examines the recent Family Justice Council guidelines. 

“Guidelines in relation to children giving evidence in family proceedings” was issued by the Family Justice Council in December 2011. A Working Party was set up following the Court of Appeal’s recommendation in Re W [2009] EWCA Civ 644, the case which later went to the Supreme Court [2010] UKSC 12. In his Foreword, Sir Nicholas Wall, President of the Family Division, writes that following the Supreme Court decision, ‘there was no longer a presumption or even a starting point against children giving evidence in such cases’. However, the occasions on which children give evidence of abuse they have suffered continue to be very rare.  In contrast, according to the Crown Prosecution Service, 48,000 children were called to give evidence in criminal proceedings in 2008-09. That had risen from 30,000 in 2006-07.  Why is that? 

Child and Youth Justice

Brenda Campbell and Shauneen Lambe examine the report on the Youth Justice System recently released by the Centre for Social Justice.  

In February 2010, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a think-tank founded by Iain Duncan Smith, launched a review of the Youth Justice System. January 2012 saw the release of the CSJ’s report on the Youth Justice System, “Rules of Engagement”. The thorough and well researched report is the result of 2 years work for the centre, gathering evidence country wide and from a diverse range of professionals. 

At the 2011 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards, Marc Willers received the award for Barrister of the Year. He talks about the practice he has developed and in particular about his representation of Gypsies and Travellers

I was very surprised and truly honoured to receive the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (LALY) award in 2011. It was a real privilege to be handed the award by Doreen Lawrence who has worked tirelessly to obtain justice for her son, Stephen, and in doing so has forced our society to acknowledge and address institutional racism. 

Having spent the year after university working in a law centre in Birmingham, Emily Johnson examines the possible effects of the proposed legal aid reforms on the Law Centre Movement. 

On 13 May 2010 Liam Byrne MP, former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, somewhat ominously forewarned his successor that “there is no money”. The latest figures indicate that the UK has amassed a national debt totalling £770 billion, upon which it is paying interest at the annual rate of around £43 billion. 

Regulatory practitioners and those who favour complementary health therapy should be aware of changes in the practice of herbal medicine, writes Melissa Coutinho. 

There cannot be many of us who, despite spam filters, have not been exhorted on a regular basis to purchase a medicinal product that has promised to change our lives. Depending upon whether one wants to improve one’s performance professionally, physically or socially, there appears to be a product marketed directly for such a purpose.