Complex and lengthy criminal trials – a JUSTICE working party report offers solutions

March 4, 2016

Over the course of 2015 a JUSTICE working party of members and invited experts chaired by Sir David Calvert-Smith was tasked with reviewing the current processes that lead to complex and lengthy criminal trials. This was in order to present a series of recommendations designed to deliver increased efficiency and effectiveness within the criminal justice […]

Complex and lengthy criminal trials

A JUSTICE Working Party provides solutions A JUSTICE Working Party last night (3rd March 2016) recommended three key changes to the current system to reduce the impact of big cases on our criminal justice processes – early engagement of experts; case management by all parties and wholesale adoption of technology. These changes, says the Working […]

JUSTICE: Rushing the new Investigatory Powers Bill does nothing for public trust

March 2, 2016

On 1 March, the Government published the latest iteration of its Investigatory Powers Bill.  The Bill will have its Second Reading in the House of Commons in the next two weeks. Since 2011, JUSTICE has called for a coherent, holistic rewrite of surveillance law to increase accountability and transparency, to provide clear powers necessary for […]

Time to think again – Draft Investigatory Powers Bill

February 12, 2016

JUSTICE welcomes the overwhelming Parliamentary consensus that the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill must be substantially redrafted to remove or revise overbroad, imprecise or vague powers and to strengthen crucial protections for individual privacy. Since 2011, JUSTICE has called for a coherent, holistic rewrite of surveillance law to increase accountability and transparency, to provide clear powers […]

Immigration Bill briefing for House of Lords Committee Stage

January 14, 2016

JUSTICE has produced a new briefing to inform the consideration of the Immigration Bill 2015-16 in the House of Lords Committee Stage, which is due to begin on Monday 18 January. JUSTICE’s previous briefings on this Bill have been quoted extensively during debates in both the House of Commons and the Lords, not least by Andy […]

Draft Investigatory Powers Bill

December 18, 2015

The Draft Investigatory Powers Bill was published on 4 November 2015 for consultation.  A Joint Committee appointed to report on the Draft Bill published its report on 11 February 2016. In 2011, JUSTICE recommended that the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (‘RIPA’) be repealed and replaced by a modern legal framework for surveillance more […]

JUSTICE written evidence to Scottish Parliament Human Rights Inquiry

December 3, 2015

JUSTICE has urged MSPs to consider the implications of the Government’s proposed repeal of the Human Rights Act 1998 for the Scots legal system. Responding to a call for evidence on the upcoming changes from the European and External Affairs Committee at Holyrood, JUSTICE raises concerns about the likelihood that the proposed reforms will reduce […]

The Draft Investigatory Powers Bill: Building a Surveillance Framework for a Digital Age?

November 6, 2015

Earlier this week, in anticipation of the publication of the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill, JUSTICE published Freedom from suspicion: Building a surveillance framework for a digital age. Since our 2011 call for wholesale reform, in Freedom from suspicion: Surveillance reform for a digital age; in the intervening four years, change has become not only timely, […]