News and experiences from UK justice, including courts, YOTs, Probation offices, practitioner recruitment and training.
Category: Criminal Justice
Ken Clarke says imprisonment not linked to crime fall
14 Jul 2010, 10:41 am | Written by Backstop
BBC News reports that Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has said there is no link between rising levels of imprisonment and falling crime. With crime having fallen in most of the Western world in the 1990s, he said the decline may … Continue reading
Prison uses creative programme to reduce reoffending
6 Jul 2010, 8:42 am | Written by Backstop
Erwin James, a patron of the arts charity Create, writes for the Guardian about Doncaster Prison, which uses the creative arts to help change prisoners’ lives and reduce reoffending. View article…
EHRC to launch inquiry into disability hate crimes
14 Jun 2010, 10:35 am | Written by Backstop
The Guardian reports that the Equality and Human Rights Commission is to launch a probe into disabiliy hate crimes and harassment after figures revealed that a person appears in court every working day charged with abusing the disabled – often … Continue reading
More Crown Court trials without jury may go ahead
6 May 2010, 9:13 am | Written by Backstop
BBC News reports that two more crown court trials without a jury may be held, just over a month after the first juryless trial for centuries. The applications were lodged after a trial in March, when four men were convicted … Continue reading
Illiteracy and innumeracy UK’s “dirty little secrets”
4 May 2010, 10:00 am | Written by Backstop
Digby Jones writes for The Guardian on how, he says, the election campaign is dodging the issue of low basic skills and that prisons provide the most acute examples of this issue. View article…
Crackdowns on drug dealers led to rise in violent crime, study finds
27 Apr 2010, 9:26 am | Written by Backstop
The Independent reports that police crackdowns to cut the supply of illegal drugs by removing dealers and criminal overlords actually lead to rises in drug-related violence, gun crime and murder, according to an international study. Campaigners for the reform of … Continue reading
Sex offenders win legal challenge over register
21 Apr 2010, 10:06 am | Written by Backstop
BBC News reports that two convicted sex offenders have won the right to challenge their inclusion on the UK’s sex offenders register. The UK Supreme Court ruling paves the way for other offenders to seek to have their details removed. … Continue reading
Backlash fears after reincarceration of Bulger killer
4 Mar 2010, 11:11 am | Written by Backstop
Children & Young People Now reports that prison reformers fear that the return to prison of James Bulger killer Jon Venables could spark a backlash against attempts to liberalise youth justice. The trial of Venables and his co-defendant Robert Thompson … Continue reading
What else can a youth offending team officer do?
3 Mar 2010, 11:01 am | Written by Backstop
The Guardian today has a feature on the possible career options to a youth offending team officer looking to develop their career further.
Comment: Blame the rapist, not the victim
19 Feb 2010, 10:30 am | Written by Backstop
Julie Bindel writes for The Guardian today on the results of a new survey, Wake up To Rape, which found that one in 10 respondents consider most claims of rape to be “probably false”, and more than half the female … Continue reading
