Mental health, human rights & criminal justice bodies unite for reforms to address the “stain” of the IPP sentence

February 26, 2024

An influential cross-sector coalition of mental health bodies, human rights charities and criminal justice organisations have joined forces to call for reforms to address the ongoing injustice of the IPP sentence – described by the former Supreme Court Justice Lord Brown as “the greatest single stain on our criminal justice system”. Members of the coalition […]

New guide to help evidence the role of racism in state-custody deaths 

February 21, 2024

Green door

A new guide released today (21/2/24) provides lawyers representing families bereaved by deaths in police custody, prisons, immigration detention, and mental health settings with the legal expertise to raise the potential role of race and racism at inquests. It also provides foundational knowledge and strategy to coroners to ensure they satisfy their duty in fully […]

Government seeks to routinely redact names in judicial review cases

January 24, 2024

JUSTICE is today [Weds 24/1/24] intervening in an appeal to argue that the Government should not be able to routinely redact all names outside of the senior civil service from documents disclosed in judicial review proceedings. This policy risks hiding the names of external contractors and political Special Advisors as well as that of junior […]

Police challenged over attempt to withhold Prevent data

January 19, 2024

Law reform charity JUSTICE is today [Friday 19/1/24] challenging an attempt by two of England’s largest police forces – West Midlands and Merseyside – to keep their Prevent referrals data secret.  JUSTICE asked ten English police forces for anonymised figures on the ethnicity, age, and gender of the people they referred to the Prevent programme […]

Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill

January 9, 2024

In November 2023, the Supreme Court held in an unanimous decision that the Government’s previous Rwanda Memorandum of Understanding was unlawful for several reasons; most notably that it risked refoulement (asylum-seekers being directly/ indirectly returned to their home country before their asylum claim is properly considered) found in the Refugee Convention, Article 3 of the […]

Criminal Justice Bill

December 15, 2023

Barbed wire fence silhouetted against a blue sky

JUSTICE briefed MPs on the Criminal Justice Bill ahead of its second reading in the House of Commons. JUSTICE is concerned that the Bill, introduced on 14 November 2023, seeks to inappropriately treat legislation as a panacea for a range of socio-economic issues, rather than address their underlying causes. We consider that if enacted, the […]

Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill

December 8, 2023

JUSTICE, alongside the Immigration Lawyers Practitioners Association (‘ILPA’) and Freedom from Torture, briefed Parliamentarians on the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill ahead of its Second Reading in the House of Commons. This follows the UK Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in November 2023, which found the existing Rwanda policy unlawful for several reasons, including […]

Investigatory arrangements following police use of force

November 22, 2023

On 24 September 2023, the Home Office announced a review of investigations after police use of force. The terms of reference for the review were published on 24 October 2024. The review arose in response to backlash over the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) decision to charge a police officer with murder in connection with the […]

Court finds against Government in win for transparency, ruling fear of publicity is no justification for routine redaction of names, after successful JUSTICE intervention

November 17, 2023

Last week, the cross-party law reform charity JUSTICE intervened in the case of R (IA & others) v S/S Home Department & S/S Levelling up, Housing and Communities in the High Court. Today [17/11/23] the Court ruled against the Government and in line with JUSTICE’s submissions. In the case, the Government proposed to redact routinely […]