The Criminal Justice and Courts Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 5 February 2014. It had its Second Reading on 24 February 2014 and was considered in Committee during March. Report stage started in May, following which the Bill was carried over into the next session of Parliament and Report continued on […]

The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 26 November 2014. JUSTICE is concerned that little justification has been provided for the treatment of this Bill as fast-track legislation. This Second Reading debate will take place only three working days after the Bill’s publication. Most of the proposals in the […]

The EU Roadmap on procedural rights for suspects and accused people in criminal matters continues apace, with three Commission proposals for Directives being considered by the institutions: the right to legal aid; procedural safeguards for children; and strengthening certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at trial. The UK […]

The EU Roadmap on procedural rights for suspects and accused people in criminal matters continues apace, with three Commission proposals for Directives being considered by the institutions: the right to legal aid; procedural safeguards for children; and strengthening certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at trial. The UK […]

The Modern Slavery Bill 2014 was introduced to the House of Commons on the 10th June 2014, read for the second time on the 8th July and is now being considered in Committee, which is scheduled to conclude on 14th October. While we welcome the Bill as a measure towards curbing the practice of slavery […]

The Draft Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2014 (“the Order”) will give effect to the Government’s decision to restrict access to legal aid for persons with less than 12 months lawful residence. The Fifth Delegated Legislation Committee will consider the Order on 1 July 2014, with […]

The Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No 3) Regulations 2014 (“the Regulations”) will give effect to the Government’s decision to significantly restrict access to legal aid for judicial review applications. JUSTICE is concerned that – in light of the significant constitutional function of judicial review – these changes are unnecessary and ill-considered. They will, in […]

JUSTICE joins with a coalition of organisations to support amendment of the Care Bill to clarify that all publicly funded or arranged care services should be considered a public function for the purposes of Section 6 of the Human Rights Act. In May, the Government accepted the case and made their own amendments to the […]

In general terms, we welcome the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill as a means of bringing forward reforms to the Scottish criminal justice system, particularly to amend changes brought about through the emergency legislation hastily enacted in response to the Cadder case, in which we intervened, that recognised the right of access to a lawyer during […]