7 May 2025 The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and law reform charity JUSTICE have written jointly to Yvette Cooper, UK Home Secretary, expressing deep concern over a proposed change in law granting anonymity to firearms officers subject to a criminal proceedings following a shooting. Both the NUJ and JUSTICE stress that this change poses […]
JUSTICE & other charities warn Sentencing Bill risks more pregnant women behind bars
April 28, 2025
27 April 2025 JUSTICE and 20 other organisations and individuals have written to the Justice Secretary raising serious concerns about the Sentencing Guidelines Bill. The Bill would prevent the Sentencing Council from giving judges advice on taking personal characteristics such as pregnancy into account when deciding whether to order a report from the probation service to […]
Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill
April 25, 2025
The Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-Sentence Reports) Bill would prevent sentencing guidelines about pre-sentence reports (“PSRs”) from including any “provision framed by reference to different personal characteristics of an offender”. It defines “personal characteristics” to include “in particular” race, religion or belief, or cultural background, however this is not an exhaustive list. The Bill’s stated purpose is […]
Crime and Policing Bill 2025
April 24, 2025
The Crime and Policing Bill, was introduced in the House of Commons on 25 February 2025. Its stated purpose is to support the delivery of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls (“VAWG”) in a decade, as well as to support neighbourhood policing and increase public confidence […]
The Border Security, Immigration and Asylum Bill
April 11, 2025
The Border Security, Immigration and Asylum Bill was introduced in February 2025. We welcome the repeal of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration Act) and much of the Illegal Migration Act, given our serious concerns about both pieces of legislation. However, our briefings set out the following concerns: It also retains provisions of the […]
JUSTICE submits evidence to the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts
April 8, 2025
In January 2025, JUSTICE submitted its response to the Call for Evidence for the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts (the “Review”). The Review was commissioned to address the severe backlog crisis in the Crown Court. As of September 2024, there were over 73,000 outstanding cases in the Crown Court – the highest figure ever […]
Mental Health Bill
February 24, 2025
JUSTICE is supporting an amendment to the Mental Health Bill which would extend the human rights protections for those receiving contracted-out mental health care or treatment. This follows our 2024 report ‘Beyond the Blame Game: a responsible and rights-centred approach to government contracting’. Section 6 (3) Human Rights Act The Human Rights Act is an […]
Proposed Legal Reforms Risk Undermining Justice in Infrastructure Planning
January 30, 2025
Proposed reforms to Judicial Review risk diluting accountability and the rule of law The Government has recently announced changes to the Judicial Review process for planning decisions for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (‘NSIPs’) such as airports, railways and nuclear power stations. These changes, aimed at accelerating the delivery of critical national infrastructure, follow recommendations made […]
AI in our Justice System
This report proposes the first rights-based framework to guide AI use across the UK justice system, to help us harness AI’s power while guarding against its risks. Click here to read the full report The justice system plays a vital role in peoples’ lives and our democracy – it determines who cares for children, how […]
JUSTICE’s response to the Independent Sentencing Review
January 20, 2025
In January 2025, JUSTICE responded to the Call for Evidence for the Independent Sentencing Review 2024-2025 (the “Review”), led by the Rt Hon David Gauke, former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. Launched in response to the ongoing prisons overcrowding crisis, the Review is tasked with re-evaluating our ‘sentencing framework’ (the set of […]