Civil Contingencies Act, Martial Law and a State of Emergency The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 confers a power to make regulations if an ‘emergency’ has occurred or is about to occur. In other words, a power to declare a state of emergency and make regulations to...
Knife Crime - Searching for Solutions The Home Secretary will this week hold an urgent meeting with police chiefs to discuss the recent rise in knife crime. This follows another week of senseless killings and the publication of figures that show the number of people aged...
Counterfeit Currency - You May Pay a Very High Price In straitened financial circumstances, it can be tempting to consider purchasing counterfeit money. While the price of such 'currency' fluctuates widely, it is often as low as 25% of the face value, making it a tempting...
Modern Slavery – A Defence to Drug Dealing and other offences? The short answer is: maybe. Section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 provides a defence to specific criminal charges where it is shown that they were committed under a compulsion due to slavery or exploitation...
Sleepwalking – Is It A Defence? You wake up one morning and the horror of the night before quickly unfolds. Blue lights and uniformed police officers greet you, search your house and find your girlfriend dead in the bathroom. You have no memory of anything happening overnight, and...
Government Unveils New Domestic Abuse Legislation On Monday the government unveiled its new strategy to tackle domestic abuse. This follows a consultation exercise carried out last year which drew over 3,000 responses. The new measures are: Introducing the first ever statutory government definition of domestic abuse, which...
Community Protection Notices Community Protection Notices (CPNs) are currently attracting a lot of attention from the legal community, and we have many concerns concerning the way in which they are presently being used. In a recent case (Stannard v The Crown Prosecution Service [2019] EWHC 84 (Admin))...
Voyeurism and 'Upskirting' - Government Acts to Strengthen Law The Voyeurism (Offences) (No 2) Bill completed its parliamentary journey on 15th January 2019 and will shortly receive Royal Assent. As the Act will create new criminal offences, the usual convention is that at least two months...
End of The Road for Short Prison Sentences? The big news story of the weekend was the surprising news that the Prison's Minister is considering whether to abolish the power to impose short prison sentences, those of 6 months or less. Arguing for the need for reform,...
Psychoactive Substances New legislation was introduced in 2016 banning the production, sale, distribution and supply of psychoactive substances. Within that legislation was a requirement for the Government to review the law to measure any changes in outcomes before and after the law was introduced, to see...