Anti-social behaviour is in the news. The think tank Onward have cited anti-social behaviour (ASB) as a key barrier to levelling up, and the Prime Minister said that ASB was a gateway to more serious crimes. It might be but, unfortunately, we know almost nothing about who commits ASB and what works in reducing it. For all the talk of the government’s commitment to #commonsensepolicing there has been no new policy or research on tackling anti-social behaviour since the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act in 2014. That introduced new sanctions for anti-social behaviour to replace the A ..read more

There are very few who criticise the draft domestic abuse bill. But many campaigners will admit that the measures in it are unlikely to significantly reduce abuse. It has good proposals – it’s right that those accused of DA should not cross examine their alleged victims in the family court, and that our prosecutors should get jurisdiction over DA offences committed abroad. But it also expands civil orders which are designed to keep someone accused of abuse away from the alleged victim and the latter’s home and proposes that breach of such orders should be a criminal offence. Such measures soun ..read more

“No matter what people say, [police] custody is…it’s got to be done, but I think it’s sort of a form of abuse…” (defendant) In the pandemic, legal representatives have been concerned about going into police custody due to the infection risk. But they’ve either gone in or given advice from home, usually by phone. The Crown Prosecution Service has suggested that criminal cases should be rigorously assessed against the public benefit test to prevent so many cases being charged. Many were expecting a sea change in the use of custody but, having observed courts recently, I’m not convinced much has ..read more

The Post Office scandal is now seen as a notorious miscarriage of justice. But one aspect of it has been little discussed. That the prosecutor of the alleged crimes was also the victim. The Post Office had an in-house investigation team and used their own people to prosecute those accused of committing crime against the organisation. In this case there was a clear conflict of interest since the real problem – a glitchy IT system – was never investigated because it was easier to blame post masters and post office staff for shortfalls of money. The Justice Select Committee looked into private pr ..read more

Last summer Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner, said schools should “obsess” about attendance and aim to have 100% pupils in school September 2022. Needless to say, that was not achieved but she has continued to plug away. The Commissioner does say that schools should offer better support for pupils who have mental health and other difficulties, but her attendance mantra may backfire. There are children who don’t go to school because they simply don’t want to. But they are few and far between. Most children who miss school a lot are ill, vulnerable and/or alienated from school. Being ..read more

A couple of weeks ago I made my way to Catford, South London, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Confait case. This was a landmark legal case which paved the way to better rights for suspects in police custody. It started with a tragic murder. In April 1972 a trans woman, Maxwell Confait (known as Michelle), was found dead in a flat in Catford. The police arrested three boys – two children aged fourteen and fifteen and an eighteen year old with severe learning difficulties. The suspects had no lawyer and no adult to ensure their legal rights were respected. All were convicted on the basis of ..read more

    “         “I don’t let them assault me, I’d hit them first”. How do police officers talk about the violence and abuse meted out on them? Dr Lee Johnson, a serving police sergeant, sought to answer this question through research in his home police force of Lincolnshire. He interviewed police colleagues and observed dozens of discussions between officers back at the station. Dr Lee Johnson found that officers love discussing any violent run-ins at the end of shifts. Some related incidents dramatically: Whilst he is saying this, he is striding around the parade r ..read more

The other day Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, gave a speech about diversity in the legal profession. He pointed out that judges could forget they came from a relatively narrow social group and create barriers: “talk about elite schools and universities is likely to make those that did not have the opportunity to attend them uncomfortable”. I asked Sir Geoffrey why there was no good research on judicial bias in England and Wales? He obfuscated. But there really isn’t. There is research looking at disparities in sentencing. A study from the Sentencing Council found that in the case of thr ..read more

I recently had a long conversation with two experienced police officers about crime and punishment. They were convinced that sentencing in England and Wales was not too harsh and that victims wanted long sentences. The policemen’s beliefs reflect those of many people – that harsh punishment is a deterrent, and this reduces crime. Deterrence is a key principle in the sentencing regime of England and Wales. Judges justify sentences on the basis that they will deter both the defendant and the population in general from committing similar crimes in the future. A sentence that deters is a ..read more

The impact of good or bad criminal legal representation can be life-changing. Defendants can end up entering the wrong plea, getting convicted when they were innocent or receiving a much more punitive sentence than their offence merited. Our research into the quality of criminal legal services found it to be a mixed bag. We asked criminal defendants about their experiences. Some spoke well of lawyers who communicated with them regularly and proactively, and gave clear advice about options:  “Mine messages me on Facebook, ‘you’ve got to do this…let me know you’re reading my mess ..read more