Category: Uncategorized

The Sentencing Council has this week published revised sentencing guidelines for a number of sexual offences. These new guidelines will apply to those sentenced on or after 31 May 2022, and in one case to those sentenced on or after 1 July 2022.   Which offences are covered by these changes? The revisions cover: Arranging… Continue reading Sentencing Guidelines for Sexual Offences

The Home Office has published a report that summarises information from domestic homicide reviews (DHR) from October 2019 to 2020. The reviews are multi-agency reviews that are commissioned by community safety partnerships. They look into the deaths of adults that may have resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by a related person, someone they were… Continue reading Domestic Homicide

The College of Policing has published a guide to the use of live facial recognition technology. The guide is intended to ensure a consistent approach across forces with a clear legal and ethical framework.   The College sets out five aims for the guidance: – live facial recognition (LFR) technology should be used in a… Continue reading Facial Recognition Technology

The Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, has announced a reform package for the parole system. A “Root and Branch” review focussed on the following areas: An evaluation of the parole reforms to date – looking at overall performance, the response to the pandemic, the effectiveness of the reconsideration mechanism and any rule changes that would further… Continue reading Parole Reform

The government has announced the set-up of a new drugs unit to help end illegal drug-related illnesses and deaths. To be known as the Joint Combating Drugs Unit, it will bring together multiple government departments to tackle drug misuse across society. Drug misuse poisoning deaths have increased nearly 80% since 2012, and there are an… Continue reading Independent Review Of Drugs

The government has announced a new consultation to look into safety laws relating to recreational and personal watercraft. The proposal is to bring such watercraft within the scope of the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. This would mean that recreational watercraft would be made subject to the same obligations as the operators of… Continue reading Recreational Watercraft And Safety

At the beginning of this year, the Home Affairs Committee launched an inquiry into violence and abuse towards retail workers. In 2020 a retail crime survey reported 155,000 incidents of abuse or violence towards retail workers in a year. This was an increase of 9% from the previous year and amounted to 424 incidents every… Continue reading Assaults Against Retail Workers

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary is a specialist armed police force that protects civil nuclear sites and nuclear materials in England, Scotland and Wales. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) recently sought views on potential legislation to extend the remit of the constabulary in the Energy Act 2004. The constabulary works in partnership… Continue reading Civil Nuclear Constabulary

Fasail Hussain was sentenced earlier this year for drugs offences. The sentencing judge imposed a total term of 2,293 days imprisonment. Hussain had been released from prison on licence at the time that he committed the offences. When an offence is committed on licence, the offender is at risk of being returned to custody to… Continue reading Sentencing Repeat Offenders