Posts By: pareekc
Custody Time Limits & Young Defendants
In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the government introduced changes to the custody time limit regulations that extended the custody time (time in prison) limits in the Crown Court by two months to address ongoing delays in the criminal justice system which worsened during the pandemic. In September 2020, a non profit organisation called Just… Read more »
Parole Board – public scrutiny…
What is a Parole Board Hearing? It is a hearing which a person would attend whilst in prison if the Parole Board thinks there’s a realistic prospect of that person being released or moved to open conditions. They will need more evidence from you because it is possible the file did not give them what… Read more »
Barking Mad
On a radio station this week Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, talked about there being more pet thefts, which she described as ‘absolutely shocking’ and indicated that she was considering legislation making pet theft a more serious offence, meaning more serious penalties could be given. A BBC request showed that five policing areas saw a… Read more »
Encrochat – what’s that?
A lot of cases are awaiting a criminal trial that will rely, to a greater or lesser extent, on the admissibility of communications made through the apparently highly encrypted Encrochat service. The Court of Appeal has now issued rules following initial rulings at Liverpool Crown Court. Whilst this ruling does not mean that guilty pleas… Read more »
Sentencing for Drugs Offences
New sentencing guidelines for some drugs offences will come in to force on 1 April 2021 and will apply to all cases sentenced on or after that date. The update is to reflect ‘modern drug offending’ and new guidelines for offences created by legislation ‘Psychoactive Substances Act 2016’ to bring clarity and transparency around the… Read more »
Witness Independence – too much of a coincidence?
Very often in criminal cases, quite a lot of witnesses give similar and sometimes almost identical evidence. However you would think if the witnesses are at the same place, same time and all witnessing the same event, this would be expected? If we imagined a group of football fans recounting the same game, player and… Read more »
Air Weapons – The Law & Proposed Reforms
An air weapon is different from a firearm as it does not contain any explosive substance. When the trigger is pulled on an air weapon the pellets are forced from the barrel by the release of compressed air or other gas. The licensing of air weapons is different across the UK: In England and Wales… Read more »
Firearms – New Sentencing Guidelines!
A consultation held last year has led to eight new guidelines for Firearms offences, which will come into force on the 1st January 2021. What are sentencing guidelines? The guidelines must be followed by the “sentencers”, a.k.a the Judge or Magistrates, unless they consider it is not just and fair to do so. At the… Read more »
Manslaughter and the ‘PC Harper Case’
The death of PC Harper has been in the news again recently. The officer tragically died after he was dragged behind a car that was fleeing from the scene of a theft. Unusually, at the same time that the Attorney General applied for the sentences to be reviewed as they were too lenient, the three… Read more »
When life really does means……. LIFE
When a life sentence is imposed, a tariff is attached to it. This tariff is the minimum amount of time that a person must spend in custody before being considered for parole and release. In certain circumstances, a “whole life tariff (order)” can be imposed, which means that the person will never be released. Whole… Read more »