Justice Matters

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. 

X is physically disabled. He had spent time campaigning for disabled rights. Last year, a jury convicted him of having seriously sexually assaulted others in the community far more profoundly disabled than himself. Elizabeth Smaller considers the issues raised by the trial
  

The witnesses and their disabilities 

The case of X involved three witnesses who fitted every criteria of vulnerable. All suffered with cerebral palsy, a condition which affects motor development and amongst other things creates severe difficulties of speech making giving evidence in the conventional way impossible. 

Lynne Townley and Samir Pasha consider the impact of recent legislative and policy initiatives aimed at discouraging the practice of forced marriage

Forced marriage is defined as “a marriage without the consent of one or both parties and where duress is a factor”. Under domestic legislation, a marriage entered into without the valid consent of either party can be rendered void. Forcing a person into marriage also incurs a violation of the provisions of numerous international instruments. 

asks Catherine Heard, Head of Policy at Fair Trials International

Sir Scott Baker’s year-long review of the UK’s extradition arrangements reported on 18th October. The press coverage of its findings focused on the difficult case of Gary McKinnon and on the report’s clean bill of health for the UK-US extradition treaty - findings that understandably disappointed campaigners wanting a renegotiation of our extradition treaty with the United States.  

Dr Fiona Leverick discusses the role of the UK’s Supreme Court in Scottish criminal matters

The recent judgments of the United Kingdom Supreme Court in Cadder v HM Advocate [2010] UKSC 43 and Fraser v HM Advocate [2011] UKSC 24 have whipped up something of a storm in Scotland. In Cadder, the Supreme Court (“SC”) overturned a decision of seven judges of the Scottish High Court of Justiciary (“HCJ”) and held that the use at trial of admissions made by a suspect who had not been offered legal assistance violated his right to a fair trial under art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”). In Fraser, the SC quashed the conviction of the defendant on the basis that he had been denied a fair trial due to the non-disclosure of information by the Crown. His appeal had been unanimously refused by the HCJ. 

They have arrived in the Supreme Court. The Government proposes  allowing them in for sentencing. Has the time come for cameras to be allowed into all of our courts? 

Here Simon Bucks puts the case for cameras, and Jon McLeod the case against…