Justice Matters

Employment vetting law has been rewritten, warns Timothy Pitt-Payne 

In 2004, a woman (“L”) was employed by an employment agency that provided staff for schools. She worked as a playground assistant, supervising children during their lunchtime break. The agency applied for an enhanced criminal record certificate (“ECRC”) from the Criminal Records Bureau (“CRB”). The ECRC did not show any criminal convictions; but it disclosed that L’s son had previously been placed on the child protection register on grounds of neglect, and that he had been removed from the register after being convicted of robbery and given a custodial sentence. Soon afterwards she was told by the agency that it no longer required her services. 

In April 2009 four regional Administrative Court Centres were opened. David Gardner explains why this was necessary 

The Administrative Court (part of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court) hears all applications for judicial review and also some statutory appeals and applications (including applications for habeas corpus and extradition appeals). It is by way of the judicial review procedure that a person may challenge the act or omission of a public body. There are few better illustrations of the accountability of the State than the existence of the judicial review process. 

Desmond Browne QC argues that the law of privacy should provide equal protection to both private citizens and celebrities 

In recent months there has been much debate whether we have gone too far in protecting rights under art 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950  and along the way sacrificed too much of our freedom of expression under art 10. But whilst our new domestic law of privacy protects (perhaps even excessively) celebrities against the media, it is paradoxical that there remain concerns about the adequacy of the citizen’s protection against the State. Should not the same Convention right be protecting both? 

In the wake of the recent Court of Appeal interlocutory judgment giving the green light for the first trial on indictment by a judge alone, David Wolchover and Anthony Heaton-Armstrong propose some convenient and inexpensive jury tampering countermeasures 

The Northern Ireland judge-only Diplock courts for the trial of cases involving a terrorist dimension linger on, though nowadays with a much reduced throughput. But while the risk of jury intimidation and religious bias may have waned in Ulster the perceived problem of jury tampering—or “nobbling”—had supposedly increased in England and Wales to such an extent that provision was finally enacted in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (“CJA 2003”), s 44 for trials on indictment to be conducted where appropriate without a jury. 

In the wake of the recent Court of Appeal interlocutory judgment giving the green light for the first trial on indictment by a judge alone, David Wolchover and Anthony Heaton-Armstrong propose some convenient and inexpensive jury tampering countermeasures 

The Qatar Law Forum in May 2009 brought together global leaders in law to mark a shared commitment to the rule of law, reports Khadija Ali.  

The Qatar Law Forum took place in Doha from 29 to 31 May 2009 under the patronage of His Highness the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. 

The involvement of the private sector in the government’s fight against fraud is welcome, but significant dangers—for both victims and the criminal justice system—lurk below the surface, warns Jonathan Fisher QC 

Lara Maroof looks at the misuse of expert virological evidence in HIV prosecutions 

The recent reforms in the area of fraud and financial crime amount to little more than re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, writes Jonathan Fisher QC. More radical reform to the statutory framework is required 

Jodie Blackstock explores the issues raised by the European Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia and argues that tangible curtailments to freedom of speech could follow