JUSTICE uses the unrivalled professional and cross-party expertise of our membership to make up Working Parties which guide and support particular JUSTICE projects. Throughout our history we have used such Working Parties – which have been responsible for some of our most influential and significant reports – in order to enable us to draw, as fully as possible, upon our members’ vast range of expertise and experience.
Current Working Parties
Time Better Spent: Improving Administrative Decision-making in Prisons
JUSTICE commenced this Working Party during summer 2023. The task of the Working Party will be to consider both structural issues surrounding administrative decision-making in prisons, as well as improvements to certain areas of particular concern.
Outsourcing and Administrative Justice
In December 2022, JUSTICE announced its Working Party, which will examine the impact of government outsourcing on administrative justice within the United Kingdom. The Working Party’s first meeting took place on Tuesday 21 February 2023 and the work is expected to last around 12 months. The Working Party will look at all stages of the outsourcing process, including the initial decision to outsource, the contracting stage, how a contract can be better managed and enforced, and how outsourced decisions can be made properly accountable.
Previous Working Parties
The function and operation of Behavioural Control Orders
In Summer 2022, JUSTICE announced its Working Party, which will examine the function and enforcement of behavioural control orders in the United Kingdom. These are orders obtained via a civil procedure, that seek to restrict a person’s behaviour for a preventative purpose and that have criminal consequences if breached. The goal of the Working Party is to look at the way behavioural control orders operate in practice. In particular, the Working Party will explore whether hybrid orders are issued and enforced in a fair and consistent manner that respects human rights and whether they are effective in achieving those legitimate purposes.
A Parole System fit for purpose
This Working Party examined the role, powers, and procedures of the Parole Board and the broader parole system of England and Wales. The review placed particular focus on groups overrepresented throughout the criminal justice system and those who face particular challenges in participating, and made recommendations aiming to ensure that those involved in the parole process are not detained for longer than is necessary and lawful. Chaired by Professor Nicola Padfield, this Working Party took place alongside the Government’s own ‘Root and Branch Review’ of the Parole System, which it announced in October 2020.
Improving Access to Justice for Separating Families
Since the legal aid cuts of 2013, private children cases in England and Wales have become the site of numerous, interrelated, access to justice problems. The proliferation of litigants in person has not only introduced new challenges, such as the proper advice, support and case management of so many unrepresented litigants, but also exacerbated pre-existing issues, such as the treatment of domestic abuse by the court and the child’s voice being heard within proceedings. Chaired by Professor Gillian Douglas, this Working Party asked what a future private family court should look like and how the court’s processes should adapt to the families within it.
Read the report here.
Reforming the Windrush Compensation Scheme
In 2018, news of the Windrush scandal reached the public domain, when it emerged that hundreds of Commonwealth citizens had been detained, deported and denied legal rights after wrongly being classified as illegal and/or undocumented immigrants. Hundreds of individuals were placed in immigration detention, lost their jobs and homes and were threatened with removal, with many others deported to countries they hadn’t resided in since childhood. Chaired by : Professor Robert Thomas, this Working Group ims to ensure that people claiming compensation have their claims adjudicated fairly, accurately and in a timely manner; and that the complaints process is efficient, accessible and fair.
Reforming Benefits Decision-Making
The benefits decision-making system forms a huge part of the administrative justice landscape. But the UK system has been performing poorly. Claimants are incorrectly denied benefits too often and there have long been concerns about systemic problems in decision-making by the Department for Work and Pensions. Many give up when faced with a long fight for their entitlement, appeals that remedy wrong decisions take too long and it is ultimately many of the most vulnerable in society that suffer. Chaired by Lord Low of Dalston CBE, this joint JUSTICE and Administrative Justice Council Working Party will aim to make practical and realistic recommendations to improve the benefits decision-making system for claimants.
Read the full report here (PDF version here).
Tackling Racial Injustice: Children and the Youth Justice System
At most stages of the youth justice system – from arrest to custody – the proportion of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) young people is higher than the proportion of white young people. This disproportionality can be seen at its starkest in the youth custodial estate, where the BAME population is 51%, despite being 18% of the 10-17 year old population. JUSTICE has convened a Working Party to explore the reasons why disproportionality is occurring in the youth justice system, with a view to making positive recommendations for change and reducing racial disparities in the youth justice system.
Read Tackling Racial Injustice: Children and the Youth Justice System
When Things Go Wrong
In the wake of a major catastrophe myriad elements of the justice system are engaged, with inquests and inquiries running in parallel with criminal and civil litigation to try to establish what happened. Concurrent processes across the different jurisdictions lead to duplication and delay: from the perspective of those caught up in the aftermath of the disaster, the process can be agonisingly lengthy and potentially re-traumatising. The When Things Go Wrong Working Party will aim to address how our inquest and inquiry processes can be made more efficient and transparent, in order to secure timely justice and public confidence.
Read the When Things Go Wrong: the response of the justice system here
Solving Housing Disputes
A Working Party for reform of the housing disputes system for England is timely. Local authorities owe an increasing number of homelessness duties as the number of people sleeping rough rises, disputes are beset by delays and legal aid shortfalls and the reduction in the number of solicitors holding housing contracts mean that the number of self-represented litigants is on the rise.
Read the Solving Housing Disputes report here
Increasing Judicial Diversity: An Update
This Update builds on JUSTICE’s 2017 Increasing Judicial Diversity report, which explored the structural barriers faced by women, BAME communities, solicitors and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds in reaching the bench. It assesses the progress that has been made since 2017, outlines areas that remain of critical concern and makes further recommendations for improving judicial diversity.
Read the Increasing Judicial Diversity: An Update report here
Challenging School Exclusions
The numbers and rate of children being excluded from school have been increasing year-on-year since 2012/13. In addition, it is estimated that there are thousands more pupils not captured in the official school exclusions data who are “informally” excluded. The Working Party aims to ensure that the process for challenging school exclusions complies with public law principles, involves adequate legal expertise, is efficient, accessible and provides an effective means of holding schools to account for their decisions to exclude pupils.
Read the Challenging School Exclusions report here
Prosecuting Sexual Offences
The increased reporting of sexual offences and the grave nature of such offences requires an adequate criminal justice response. The volume, gravity and complexity of these offences requires an adequate response to ensure access to justice for victims and the right to a fair trial for suspects. The aim of this working party is to create recommendations to ensure that there is an adequate response. This will encompass all stages of the criminal justice process: (1) investigation; (2) the decision to charge; (3) prosecution; (4) sentencing and (5) offender programmes and recidivism reduction.
Read the Prosecuting Sexual Offences report here
Understanding Courts
Research has identified a disconnect between professional court users and lay people engaged in the trial process. Legal processes and constructs are confusing and distressing for the parties in cases, yet little effort has been made to truly address this. The court remains in the first instance the work place of legal professionals. As we reconfigure the court estate, and accommodate far more litigants in person, the role of the adversarial trial and legal professionals in communication of justice must be reviewed. This Working Party will aim to improve the participation of court users in their own proceedings.
Read the Understanding Courts report here
Immigration and Asylum Appeals – a Fresh Look
JUSTICE published Delivering Justice in an Age of Austerity in April 2015. Since that time, the move towards the digitisation and modernisation of courts and tribunals has gathered pace with a £1bn investment by the Government in courts and tribunals. Following consultation with relevant stakeholders, including senior judiciary, JUSTICE has set up a Working Party to look at the determination processes in immigration and asylum cases and how these might be reformed in the context of the HM Court & Tribunal Service (HMCTS) Reform Programme.
Read the Immigration and Asylum Appeals – a Fresh Look report here
Legal Assistance in the Police Station
The first JUSTICE working party in Scotland looks at the uptake and provision of legal advice during police detention. A startling 75 per cent of suspects in Scotland are estimated to waive the right to legal advice prior to police interview. In England the corresponding figure is around 55 per cent. The Working Party will examine the current processes by which advice is provided to suspects and present recommendations to increase their effectiveness.
Read the Legal Assistance in the Police Station report here
Preventing Digital Exclusion from Online Justice
This working party will look at the opportunities and pitfalls of digitalisation and doing justice online and virtually. Experts will review how people accessing online services in a range of fields can be better assisted; to identify the necessary features of simple and accessible online interfaces; and the support required for users with differing needs. The working party aims to make practical recommendations to ensure that necessary support is an integral feature of the digital justice system and continue to work with the reform programme to instil a user focussed approach.
Read the Preventing Digital Exclusion from Online Justice report here
Mental Health and Fair Trial
JUSTICE has long been concerned that the criminal justice system is not suitably designed to accommodate people with mental health or learning difficulties. Its underlying principle of bringing perpetrators of crime to justice, and justification for infringing the liberty of members of society based on punishment, deterrence and rehabilitation fail starkly when mental illness is introduced. This Working Party will developed robust and practical recommendations – covering all stages of the criminal process – that can be tested with relevant practitioners.
Read the Mental Health and Fair Trial report here
Increasing Judicial Diversity
The Judicial Diversity Working Party considered appointments to the Circuit Bench, High Court and Court of Appeal in England & Wales, and to the UK Supreme Court. The report explored the structural barriers faced by women, people from visible ethnic minorities and those from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds in reaching the bench. It explained why diversity is a vital constitutional issue, calling for systemic changes to increase accountability and improve recruitment processes, and proposed more inclusive routes to the senior bench.
Read the Increasing Judicial Diversity report here
Delivering Justice in an Age of Austerity
This working party, launched in 2014, focused on the civil courts and tribunals. It recommended the introduction of a new primary dispute resolution officer (a “registrar”) who will be responsible for proactively case managing disputes as well as actively resolving the majority of cases through a combination of mediation and early neutral evaluation. Another recommendation was an integrated online and telephone platform offering comprehensive legal information, advice and assistance, helping litigants to navigate their way through the newly reformed justice system. These recommendations are forming the basis of the current civil court reforms.
Read the Delivering Justice in an Age of Austerity report here
Complex and Lengthy Criminal Trials
Over the course of 2015 this JUSTICE working party was tasked with reviewing the current processes that lead to complex and lengthy criminal trials. These constitute a specific and longstanding concern of the criminal justice system. They require vast resources and have only got longer and more unmanageable as advances in technology have given rise to more and more electronic material, which must be reviewed, disclosed and then presented effectively at trial. The Working Party presented a series of recommendations designed to deliver increased efficiency and effectiveness within the criminal justice processes, while maintaining the absolute right to a fair trial. We continue to discuss with police, practitioners, judiciary and Government how these recommendations can be implemented as part of digitisation of the criminal justice system.
Read the Complex and Lengthy Criminal Trials report here
‘What is a Court?’
In 2015, this working party was launched to challenge long-held notions of what is required of a court or tribunal and inform the HMCTS Reform Programme. The Working Party emphasised the importance of technology, and its potential to meet user needs and maximise access to justice. It also suggested a portfolio of Flagship Justice Centres; Local Justice Centres; ‘Pop-up courts’; remote access justice facilities; and flexible digital justice spaces. Our ideas are being implemented by HMCTS as it re-designs the courts.
Read the full What Is A Court? report here