The Ministry of Justice began consultation on proposals for strengthening the way it worked with voluntary and community groups.
Source: Third Sector Strategy: Improving policies and securing better public services through effective partnerships, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Consultation document | MOJ press release
Date: 2007-Dec
The Ministry of Justice published its 2007 autumn performance report, showing progress against its public service agreement targets.
Source: Autumn Performance Report 2007, Cm 7271, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Dec
A new book examined criminal justice policy in the light of recent research on changing patterns of crime and criminal careers. It highlighted the costs – in terms of both money and opportunity – of prison expansion.
Source: Mary Vogel (ed.), Crime, Inequality and the State, Routledge (01264 343071)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Dec
A new book drew on qualitative research to examine the 'significant gaps' that existed between the ideals of proponents of restorative justice and the objectives being pursued in practice. It examined ways forward for the restorative justice movement within a coherent set of ideals.
Source: Margarita Zernova, Restorative Justice: Ideals and Realities, Ashgate Publications (01235 827730)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Dec
A report presented statistics relating to the handling of offenders dealt with by formal police cautions, reprimands or warnings, or criminal court proceedings, in England and Wales in 2006. The number of crimes dealt with by convictions in the courts had been overtaken for the first time by the number handled directly by the police through cautions and fixed-penalty fines.
Source: Criminal Statistics 2006: England and Wales, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report | Supplementary tables | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Nov
A new book examined how different criminal justice agencies had responded to the modernization process; what forms modernization took; and what lessons could be drawn to influence the future shape of criminal justice policy.
Source: Paul Senior, Chris Crowther-Dowey and Matt Long, Understanding Modernisation in Criminal Justice, Open University Press (01280 823388)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Nov
The Crown Prosecution Service began consultation on the prosecution of crimes against older people. It sought views on how it dealt with crimes against them and how it supported those who were victims and witnesses.
Source: Policy for Prosecuting Crimes Against the Older Person, Crown Prosecution Service (020 7796 8000)
Links: CPS press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Nov
The Scottish Government published the report of a review of community penalties. It said that it would take steps to ensure that community penalties were used to their full potential in future.
Source: Reforming and Revitalising: Report of the review of community penalties, Scottish Government (0131 556 8400)
Links: Report | Summary | Focus group report | SG press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Nov
The government began consultation on ways in which health and social care services could be improved for people subject to the criminal justice system.
Source: Improving Health, Supporting Justice: A consultation document, Department of Health (08701 555455) and other departments
Links: Consultation document | YJB press release | SCMH press release
Date: 2007-Nov
The government began consultation on its strategic approach to reduce re-offending over the three years to 2010-11.
Source: Strategic Plan for Reducing Re-offending 2008-11: Working in partnership to reduce re-offending and make communities safer – A consultation, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500) and National Offender Management Service
Links: Consultation document | MOJ press release
Date: 2007-Nov
The government published a strategy for the criminal justice system for the years 2008-2011.
Source: Working Together to Cut Crime and Deliver Justice: A Strategic Plan for 2008-2011, Cm 7247, Home Office et al., TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Strategy | Summary | Hansard | CJS press release
Date: 2007-Nov
A report presented a comprehensive set of statistics on judicial and court activity in England and Wales during 2006.
Source: Judicial and Court Statistics 2006, Cm 7273, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Nov
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill was given a second reading. The Bill included measures to: end automatic sentence discounts for offenders re-sentenced to an indeterminate sentence after an initial sentencing decision had been ruled unduly lenient; stop the 'plainly guilty' having their convictions quashed because of procedural irregularities; give powers for courts to make dangerous offenders given a discretionary life sentence serve a higher proportion of their tariff before becoming eligible for parole consideration; and create a presumption that trials in magistrates' courts would proceed in the absence of the accused.
Source: Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 8 October 2007, columns 59-131, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | JCWI briefing
Date: 2007-Oct
The government responded to a report by a committee of peers on relations between the executive, the judiciary and Parliament. It said that the creation of the Ministry of Justice affected neither the Lord Chancellor's statutory obligation to uphold the continued independence of the judiciary, nor the government's obligation to provide adequate funding to ensure the effective and efficient functioning of the courts.
Source: Government's Response to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution's Report: Relations Between the Executive, the Judiciary and Parliament, Cm 7223, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | Peers report
Date: 2007-Oct
Annual statistics were published under section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 regarding black and minority ethnic communities within the criminal justice system. In 2006 members of BME communities were 7 times more likely than their white counterparts to be stopped and searched, 3-4 times more likely to be arrested, and 6 times more likely to be in prison.
Source: Alex Jones and Lawrence Singer, Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System – 2006, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on young black people and the criminal justice system. It said that it was drawing together existing and planned work in this area into a 'simple, cost-effective delivery strategy' to reduce unfair disproportionality for young black people; and that it would bring forward detailed operating proposals in December 2007.
Source: The Government's Response to the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee Report: Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System, Cm 7214, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report | MOJ press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A report examined the range of personal and social factors that judges took into account in passing sentence. Personal mitigation played an important part in sentencing decisions, and could be the decisive factor in choosing a community penalty in preference to imprisonment.
Source: Jessica Jacobson and Mike Hough, Mitigation: The role of personal factors in sentencing, Prison Reform Trust (020 7251 5070)
Links: Report | PRT press release | Speech
Date: 2007-Oct
The government began consultation on whether the existing limited role of the executive in judicial appointments set out in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 was appropriate, or whether more could be done to limit ministerial involvement.
Source: The Governance of Britain: Judicial Appointments, Cm 7210, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Consultation document | MOJ press release | Bar Council press release
Date: 2007-Oct
An independent review examined the law and practice of disclosure in criminal proceedings in Scotland. It said that there should be a clearer definition of the duty of disclosure, coupled with a reasonable and flexible approach to its application.
Source: Lord Coulsfield, Review of the Law and Practice of Disclosure in Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, Scottish Government, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | Summary | SG press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Sep
An inspectorate report said that that government needed to make sure that the public prosecution service in Northern Ireland was a properly accountable body in the context of devolution, and that it should therefore became a Department in its own right.
Source: An Inspection of the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (028 9025 8000) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate
Links: Report | CJINI press release
Date: 2007-Aug
A study sought to identify the factors that influenced people's confidence in the criminal justice system. Public confidence in the criminal justice system, as measured by the British Crime Survey, could be improved by: (a) implementing initiatives aimed at informing the public about positive aspects of police and court performance; and (b) asking people for their estimate of overall confidence after they had first considered their views about the criminal justice system.
Source: Dominic Smith, Confidence in the Criminal Justice System: What lies beneath?, Research Report 7/07, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Aug
An inspectorate report in Northern Ireland examined the handling of complaints in the criminal justice system. It called for consideration to be given to establishing an independent complaints appeal body to deal with complaints from all of the main criminal justice organisations (except the police service).
Source: The Handling of Complaints in the Criminal Justice System, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (028 9025 8000)
Links: Report | CJINI press release
Date: 2007-Aug
A report evaluated the Public Defender Service (PDS) in England and Wales. The PDS had been able to deliver high-quality criminal defence, in most instances of an equal or higher standard than the best private criminal-defence firms.
Source: Lee Bridges et al., Evaluation of the Public Defender Service in England and Wales, Legal Services Commission, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | UWE press release
Date: 2007-Jul
The prosecution service inspectorate published its annual report for 2006-07. The number of offenders in England and Wales dealt with using alternatives to prosecution (such as cautions and fines) had overtaken the number taken to court.
Source: Changing to Improve: Annual Report 2006-2007, HC 769, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Jul
The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 was given Royal assent. The Act was designed to: reform the tribunal system; change judicial eligibility requirements to enable a broader, more diverse, spectrum of candidates to apply for judicial office; clarify and consolidate the law relating to bailiffs; enable creditors to enforce civil court judgments more effectively; and protect those who had fallen into debt and had no foreseeable way out of it, including a new personal insolvency procedure for those unable to access existing solutions.
Source: Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act
Date: 2007-Jul
The Court Service published its annual report for 2006-07. It highlighted 'significant progress' in protecting the vulnerable; a blueprint for delivering simple, speedy, summary justice addressing community concerns; and the increased use of mediation to achieve justice.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2006/07, HC 602, HM Court Service, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HMCS press release | Hansard
Date: 2007-Jul
The Legal Services Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to reform the regulation of lawyers, introducing a new Legal Services Board and an Office of Legal Complaints.
Source: Legal Services Bill [HL], Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 4 June 2007, columns 24-103, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | HOC research brief | Hansard | Bar Council press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
Researchers examined the views of victims and offenders taking part in restorative justice schemes. Overall, victims and offenders were very happy with how the schemes operated and with their experiences of restorative justice.
Source: Joanna Shapland et al., Restorative Justice: The Views of Victims and Offenders - The third report from the evaluation of three schemes, Research Report 3/07, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
The government began consultation on ways of giving greater choice in how young people gave evidence in court, include the use of video and remote links.
Source: Improving the Criminal Trial Process for Young Witnesses, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Consultation document | MOJ press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A study examined whether the juror-summoning process discriminated against black and minority ethnic (BME) groups; whether jurors serving at crown courts were representative of the local population in terms of ethnicity, age, gender, employment, income, and religion; and whether a defendant's ethnicity affected the decision-making of racially-mixed juries. Race did not affect the verdict of mixed-race juries: but not enough was known about all-white juries
Source: Cheryl Thomas with Nigel Balmer, Diversity and Fairness in the Jury System, Research Report 2/07, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report | MOJ press release | UCL press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report by a committee of MPs called for a national strategy to cut the number of young black people involved in crime. It highlighted the problems of social exclusion, absent fathers, and a lack of role models.
Source: Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System, Second Report (Session 2006-07), HC 181, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | YJB press release | Nacro press release | Mayor of London press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Socialist Worker report
Date: 2007-Jun
The watchdog for legal services said that there were a number of respects in which the Legal Services Bill could be enhanced, in order to deliver fully on its promise of a more consumer-focused vision of legal services.
Source: Legal Services Reform: A Perspective, Legal Services Complaints Commissioner (0845 456 5150) and Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that local councils should play a greater role in the criminal justice system. Local authorities were best placed to co-ordinate services including housing, education, and health, which were key to prisoner rehabilitation.
Source: Rob Allen and Vivien Stern (eds.), Justice Reinvestment: A new approach to crime and justice, International Centre for Prison Studies/King?s College London (020 7848 1922)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Jun
The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to: reform the tribunal system; change judicial eligibility requirements to enable a broader, more diverse, spectrum of candidates to apply for judicial office; clarify and consolidate the law relating to bailiffs; enable creditors to enforce civil court judgments more effectively; and protect those who had fallen into debt and had no foreseeable way out of it, including a new personal insolvency procedure for those unable to access existing solutions.
Source: Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 27 June 2007, columns 339-437, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory Notes | HOC research brief | Hansard
Date: 2007-Jun
The government published the results of consultation on violent offender orders. Overall there was support for the principle of the orders as an additional public protection tool and preventative measure against serious violent offending.
Source: Stakeholder Consultation on Violent Offender Orders: Summary of responses and next steps, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Consultation responses
Date: 2007-Jun
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill was published. The Bill included measures to: end automatic sentence discounts for offenders re-sentenced to an indeterminate sentence after initial sentencing decision ruled unduly lenient; stop the 'plainly guilty' having their convictions quashed because of procedural irregularities; give powers for courts to make dangerous offenders given a discretionary life sentence serve a higher proportion of their tariff before eligible for parole consideration; create a presumption that trials in magistrates' courts would proceed in the absence of the accused.
Source: Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Home Office press release | Napo press release | Nacro press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Jun
A think-tank report proposed a radical decentralization and democratization of the system of justice. The framing and execution of the law had became remote from the people who lived under it. Judges, police chiefs and, increasingly, international accords laid down the application of criminal justice, often in such a way as to frustrate the decisions of elected representatives. The report suggested passing powers from global human rights quangos and judges to elected national parliamentarians.
Source: Send for the Sheriff, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
A think-tank report said that local guidance and expertise were vital in reducing rates of re-offending: but that they might be undermined by provisions in the Offender Management Bill.
Source: Victoria Barbary, Reducing Re-offending: Creating the right framework, New Local Government Network (020 7357 0051)
Links: Report | NLGN press release
Date: 2007-Jun
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on legal aid reform. It said that it was right to move from remuneration based on time spent to remuneration based on effective services delivered to the client, and that in due course levels of remuneration should be based on market factors.
Source: Implementing Legal Aid Reform Government response to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee report, Cm 7158, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report | MOJ press release
Date: 2007-Jun
The government announced that a scheme to help vulnerable witnesses access the criminal justice process would be rolled out nationally, following the success of eight regional pilots. Professional intermediaries would help children, and people with mental and physical disabilities, through the various stages of the criminal justice process.
Source: Press release 12 June 2007, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500) | Emma Marshall (ed.), The ?Go-Between?: Evaluation of intermediary pathfinder projects, Ministry of Justice | Joyce Plotnikoff and Richard Woolfson, Evaluation of Young Witness Support: Examining the impact on witnesses and the criminal justice system, Ministry of Justice
Links: MOJ press release | Summary (1) | Summary (2)
Date: 2007-Jun
An official review said that it was not yet clear how the various strategies and programmes of the Crown Prosecution Service fitted together, and how they would improve overall delivery of the public service outcomes that the department was trying to achieve.
Source: Capability Review of the Crown Prosecution Service, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report by a committee of MPs said that although the fundamental aims of the government's reforms to criminal legal aid deserved support, the reforms had been introduced too quickly, in too rigid a way, and with insufficient evidence.
Source: Implementation of the Carter Review of Legal Aid, Third Report (Session 2006-07), HC 223, House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Resolution press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-May
A report (by an official advisory body) examined options for reform of the law relating to criminal liability for encouraging or assisting another person to commit an offence. It made recommendations (in two draft bills) designed to establish a system whereby the principles of inchoate and secondary liability would support and supplement each other in a way that was rational and fair.
Source: Participating in Crime, LC305, Law Commission, Cm 7084, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-May
The Lord Chief Justice called for an end to the automatic recall to prison of released offenders who technically breached their licences. He warned that it had become a 'trapdoor to prison' and was a main factor in swelling the record prison population.
Source: Speech by Lord Phillips (Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales), 2 May 2007
Links: Text of speech | Guardian report
Date: 2007-May
A joint inspectorate report said that probation areas should ensure that greater effort was made to promote compliance with community penalties.
Source: A Summary of Findings on the Enforcement of Community Penalties from Three Joint Area Inspections, HM Chief Inspector of Probation (020 7035 2203) and others
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Apr
The Scottish Parliament approved a Bill to end the existing system of automatic - and often unconditional - early release of offenders, and to ensure that offenders were subject to restrictions for their entire sentence.
Source: Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283) | Debate 15 March 2007, columns 33321-33350, Scottish Parliament, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: MSP debate | Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Policy memorandum | SE press release
Date: 2007-Mar
The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to: reform the tribunal system; change judicial eligibility requirements to enable a broader, more diverse, spectrum of candidates to apply for judicial office; clarify and consolidate the law relating to bailiffs; enable creditors to enforce civil court judgments more effectively; and protect those who had fallen into debt and had no foreseeable way out of it, including a new personal insolvency procedure for those unable to access existing solutions. Campaigners said that vulnerable people would be at greater risk from bailiffs abusing their powers as a result of measures contained in the Bill: the government responded by pledging that bailiffs would not be given powers to enter domestic premises until a strict new licensing regime came into effect.
Source: Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 5 March 2007, columns 1296-1361, TSO | Press release 5 March 2007, Citizens Advice (020 7833 2181) | Press release 20 March 2007, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory Notes | HOC research brief | Hansard | Citizens Advice press release | DCA press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Mar
The government published the results of a survey (conducted in 2006) of public attitudes to alternatives to prosecution. 9 out of 10 participants thought that first-time minor criminal offences need not necessarily be dealt with by the courts. A majority of participants felt the most appropriate way to deal with offenders who owned up to minor offences was for them to make amends to the victim, for example by compensation or an apology.
Source: Ipsos MORI, Public Attitudes to Alternatives to Prosecution, Office for Criminal Justice Reform (cjsonline@cjit.gsi.gov.uk)
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard
Date: 2007-Mar
The Crown Prosecution Service published a public policy statement to explain how it would prosecute cases of disability hate crime.
Source: Policy for Prosecuting Cases of Disability Hate Crime, Crown Prosecution Service (020 7796 8000)
Links: Report | CPS press release | DRC press release | FPLD press release
Date: 2007-Feb
A report examined four magistrates courts that had piloted a number of initiatives aimed at making them more effective and efficient. There had been earlier identification of guilty pleas; a reduction in interim hearings for contested cases; and a decrease in outstanding workload.
Source: Delivering Simple, Speedy, Summary Justice: An Evaluation of the Magistrates' Courts Tests, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Feb
A think-tank report said that restorative justice schemes (in the United Kingdom and abroad) had substantially reduced repeat offending for some offenders, but not all; doubled (or more) the offences diverted from the conventional criminal justice system; reduced crime victims' post-traumatic stress symptoms and related costs; provided both victims and offenders with more satisfaction with justice; reduced crime victims' desire for violent revenge against their offenders; reduced the costs of criminal justice; and reduced recidivism more than prison (adults) or as well as prison (youths).
Source: Lawrence Sherman and Heather Strang, Restorative Justice: The Evidence, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618) and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | YJB press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Feb
A report by a committee of MPs endorsed, with some reservations, a draft protocol as the basis for encouraging the development of community restorative justice schemes in Northern Ireland, and building confidence in them.
Source: Draft Protocol for Community?based Restorative Justice Schemes, First Report (Session 2006-07), HC 87, House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NIO press release
Date: 2007-Jan
The Scottish Parliament approved a Bill aimed at improving the management and operation of the lower (non-jury) courts.
Source: Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | SE press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan
The Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill was given a third reading. The Bill paved the way for trials in the most serious and complex fraud cases to take place without a jury, by removing the prior requirement for an affirmative vote by both Houses of Parliament. The prosecution would be able to apply for a juryless trial, and a High Court Judge would need to agree to the application.
Source: Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 25 January 2007, columns 1573-1663, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan