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How does law reform occur?

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:00:58 +0000

The reform of UK law is generally handled by the Law Commission which is an independent body created by the Law Commission Act 1965. The main aim of the Commission is to keep the law under constant review and recommend where changes to the law should be made in the public interest. The Act requires the Commission to submit “programmes for the examination of different branches of the law” to the Lord Chancellor.Changes to the law can be widespread and diverse, as the Commission looks at every area of UK law. The Commission covers criminal, civil, family, housing, public, tort and contract law. There are five Commissioners that work for the Law Commission full time, with the chairman being either a High Court or Court of Appeal judge.

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The Law Commission itself does not have any judicial or legislative power. It can only make recommendations for changes to legislation that must be enacted by Parliament before they become law and appear on the statute book. The Lord Chancellor reports annually on the Commission’s recommendations and how these could be implemented by new acts of Parliament.

Choosing which laws should be reviewed is done through consultations and research carried out continuously by the Commission. One of the Commission’s main aims is to ensure consistency of the law and improve its simplicity. It also seeks to remove gaps or anomalies that may have been highlighted in court cases, such as when common law and statute law conflict with each other or leave certain questions unanswered. The Commission cannot and does not give personal advice about any point of law.

If you think that an area of law needs to be reviewed you can get in contact with the Law Commission and submit your suggestions in response to their current consultations and reports. Alternatively, you may consider getting in contact with your local MP or raising public awareness on the issue, such as through the media. If the law affects you personally you may be able to take legal action through the courts. If the courts believe that the question of law is important to the public interest they may escalate it through the court hierarchy and appeal system. Cases that reach the Supreme Court – the highest court of appeal in the UK – may result in judicial criticism of the law to which Parliament will respond with changes to the law. Similarly, cases concerning European law which are taken through the domestic court system or to the ECJ can highlight areas in which the UK government is not complying with its requirements under European law, resulting in changes to the law.

How does a judge decide the sentence of someone found guilty of a criminal charge?

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:00:21 +0000

The general role of a judge in a criminal case is to ensure that the case they are hearing is fair and complies with all current laws. It is the job of a judge to apply the statute laws that impact on the case they are hearing, and also consider any common laws that may also be relevant. As judges are independent of the state and the police, their decisions cannot usually be challenged. However, you can make an appeal against the decision of a judge if you think there were irregularities in the case or that the judge did not take into account all the evidence.
The decisions that judges make regarding the cases they hear is always recorded so that other judges can use this information when imposing sentences in the criminal cases they are hearing in their courts. Also, judges in lower courts – such as the magistrates’ court – will use the decisions made by judges in higher courts as a guide when they pass sentence for criminal offences they deal with. This is to ensure that the courts have a level of integration and that punishments handed down to convicted criminals are similar based on the offence committed.

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The penalty that a judge imposes on a convicted criminal will be based on guidelines they must follow. Sentences will consider how the offender should be punished, how the sentence could reduce overall crime, how the penalty would protect the public, how the penalty would impact on the rehabilitation of the offender and how the penalty will offer a level of restitution to the community.

The guidelines that judges use are issued by the Court of Appeal and by the Sentencing Guidelines Council, but judges do not have to follow them as a matter of law. All criminal offences do, however, have a maximum penalty that a judge can hand down. And some crimes also have a minimum penalty that a judge must impose. Some serious crimes have a mandatory sentence, for example murder which is always punishable by life imprisonment. Judges will use all the available information, statute and common law, plus available guidelines, when imposing a penalty on someone found guilty of a criminal offence.

How are youth offenders dealt with in the UK legal system?

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:59:55 +0000

The age of criminal responsibility is currently ten years old. Any offender under the age of 17 is classified as a young offender. Because of their age they receive special treatment by the courts.
The police and the courts will always attempt in the first instance of an offence to deal with the offender without the courts. Youth offenders can be dealt with using Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) or child safety orders that punish the offender without involving the courts. The police also have the power to issue reprimands and warnings to young offenders.However, if the young offender can’t be controlled with ASBOs for instance, or if police warnings have no effect, or if the offence is particularly serious, then the courts will become involved. The Youth Court is a special part of the Magistrates’ Court and hears all but the most serious youth offending cases. The judges that preside over the Youth Court have special training to handle these cases.
Any youth offender found guilty at a Youth Court could receive a custodial sentence of up to 24 months or a community sentence. The Youth Court often favours the use of community sentences as this can involve a level of reparation to the community that the young offender caused stress or damage to. The Magistrate can order the young offender to do unpaid work up to a maximum of 400 hours under the Community Payback scheme, or attend a treatment programme for any drug or alcohol problems they may have.
If the crime that the young offender has committed is very serious it will not normally be heard at the Youth Court, as the Magistrate will not have the power to hand down longer sentences to the offender. These cases of youth offending will go before the Crown Court. These types of cases are for crimes that are called ‘indictable only’ offences such as rape or murder. Young offenders can receive heavy punishments and must always be represented by a criminal solicitor.

How are the rights of freedom of assembly and association protected under UK law?

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:59:19 +0000

Freedom of assembly is often used interchangeably with freedom of association and refers to the right of citizens to collectively express (often via public demonstration) their collective view on a particular issue. The term freedom of association is also used in the context of employee activism in that the term describes a person’s right to join a trade union. However, the right to join a trade union does not apply to everyone. Police officers, soldier and some groups working for the Government cannot join a trade union. Also, the right to freedom of association extends much further than membership of trade unions and includes membership of other political, religious and social groups.
The rights of freedom of assembly and association are protected under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights – in particular Article 11. The law states that you can demonstrate in accordance with your rights of freedom of assembly as long as the demonstration is within the law and does not conflict with national security interests and public safety.

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Article 11 also allows you to associate with other people of a similar view which can include the right to form a political party. The Article also conversely does not force anyone to join a union or political party at the will of the state. You should be aware that the rights afforded to citizens by Article 11 are what are known as qualified rights. This means in practice that the state can interfere with your rights of freedom of assembly if the interference is in accordance with the law. The limited situations in which the state can interfere are detailed in the provisions. Interference by the state would only be lawful if it is in the pursuit of a legitimate aim. There are six legitimate aims that include: ‘the prevention of disorder or crime’ and ‘the protection of the rights and freedoms of others’. In addition, the interference must be shown to be ‘necessary in a democratic society.’ The state must show good reason to interfere with a person’s rights of freedom of assembly, and if there is an alternative course of action that could be followed, this should be actively pursued.
If you think that your rights to freedom of assembly and association have been breached you should speak to a European law solicitor or a human rights solicitor. Alternatively, if it is in relation to your employment you should seek advice from an employment solicitor.

Is evidence gathered by polygraph accepted by courts in the UK?

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:58:40 +0000

The UK courts and law enforcement agencies have often looked to make polygraph (more commonly known as lie detector) evidence admissible in court, but current legislation prevents this. The Chairman of the British Polygraphic Association Bruce Burgess said: “The problem being that if you get a judge or jury accepting the evidence of the polygraph, it could be used as a guilty or innocent tool…and we could do away with the court. And we can’t do that; it wouldn’t be a justice system.”
The current system of justice that we have requires that a judge or jury make a decision about guilt or the innocence of a defendant based on the evidence that is presented to them. A polygraph test is not like evidence – such as recorded telephone conversations – that can be trusted to a degree by the judge and/or jury that are presented with this evidence. Polygraph tests can be fooled, which would mean some evidence was inaccurate and could mean the wrong verdict being reached.

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This is the crux of the issue. At the moment, despite what some experts would want us to believe, polygraph evidence is not completely reliable. As such, a conviction could not in principle be completely safe, as it has been shown that it is possible to beat a polygraph machine and lie convincingly.

However, this is not to say that polygraph testing does not have a place in the legal system. Often during a lawsuit a defendant will be asked to take a polygraph test as part of a psychological evaluation that the judge has ordered for pre-trial disclosure. However, a judge can’t order a polygraph test, as the defendant must voluntarily take these tests. Defendants will sometimes agree to this in order to give their case more weight and empirical evidence to prove their innocence.

The polygraph test will remain inadmissible as evidence in court while the system of trial by jury continues to be the basis of the UK’s legal system for apportioning guilt or innocence to a defendant. With the nemesis of miscarriages of justice tainting the use of polygraph tests, and the lack of universal evidence to support their accuracy and infallibility, it is unlikely that these machines will offer any evidence that would be considered in a court of law.