Archive for human rights
In what many peole will see as a blow for ‘trawling’ The Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) v Secretary of State for Justice and G4S Care and Justice Services (UK) Ltd and Serco plc [2012] EWHC 8 (Admin) – read judgment
Although certain restraining measures had been taken unlawfully against young people in secure training centres for a number of years, the court had no jurisdiction to grant an order that the victims of this activity be identified and advised of their rights.
The claimant charity alleged that children and young persons held in one or other of the four Secure Training Centres in ...
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The Ministry of Justice have issued a report on concerning the Government’ response to human rights judgments. The report is titled “Report to the Joint Committee on Human Rights on the Government’s response to human rights judgments 2010-11” CRB/listing issues and prisoner rights are among some of the cases discussed.
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The Daily Telegraph (22nd August) have given extensive coverage (see below) to a report of case in the Court of Appeal which, they say, gives paedophiles the right to unsupervisedaccess to their own children because it would breach their human rights to keep them apart.
Judges weaken rules on paedophiles
The Court of Appeal has torn up powers which previously allowed judges to ban convicted paedophiles from unfettered access to their families.
They ruled that the “right to a family life” must be taken into account before the “sexual offences prevention orders”, known as ...
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This article first appeared on the Guardian website
A maximum of 1,200 convicted sex offenders a year will be eligible to challenge their inclusion on the sex offender register for life, under Home Office proposals likely to come into force from early next year.
The decision by the home secretary, Theresa May, to give registered sex offenders a chance to be removed from the register follows a supreme court ruling that indefinite registration without any right to a review amounts to a breach of human rights.
May’s decision to comply with the ruling comes despite David Cameron ...
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According to an article on the Guardian web site written by Amelia Hill children may no longer be called to give evidence in the criminal courts except in the “most extraordinary circumstances”, even if that means risking their abusers going free, following a case due to be heard in June.
The change could transform the approach of the criminal courts towards children, and involves the refusal of a local authority to let a six-year-old girl give evidence against her father in court.
The Crown Prosecution Service is demanding that the child is cross-examined over allegations of sexual abuse she has made against ...
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The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee have stated that anyone suspected or accused of having committed a crime must promptly be given information on his or her procedural rights in an easy-to-understand language, said the Civil Liberties Committee on Thursday, in amendments to a draft law to protect defendants’ rights across the EU. To those who are arrested or questioned at a police station, this information must be given in a written “Letter of Rights”, to which MEPs added inter alia the right to medical care and the ...
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Our attention has been drawn to the online Human Rights TV news channel which not only contains a lot of useful information about human rights but also has some excellent video’s including many concerning justice issues. The basic aim of the channel is to empower the voice seldom heard. Online Human Rights TV describe their history and aims as follows:-
In September 2006 there was a meeting between a small group of people to discuss the possibility of creating a web television channel devoted to Human Rights activities. Present were Terry Smith, Mike Smith, Andrew Samuels, John Jackson, AkaneTakayama and ...
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Puri, R (on the application of) v Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2011] EWHC 970 (Admin) (15 April 2011)
This case refers to a claim for judicial review of two decisions of the defendant, the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Essentially, the issue is whether Article 6 ECHR was engaged in the disciplinary proceedings that led to dismissal, and if so whether the disciplinary panel of the Trust which decided to dismiss him was independent and impartial so as ...
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This news item has been extracted from the Guardian Online (here) on the 12th April
The Government has lost its final appeal against giving prisoners the right to vote following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
A five-judge panel said the UK must now draw up proposals within six months to end the blanket ban on prisoners voting. The court delivered the ultimatum after upholding its decision last November to award two UK prisoners €5,000 (£4,350) in costs and expenses for their loss of voting rights, which ...
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Copy of press release issued by the Home Office:
‘The sex offenders’ register has existed since 1997. Since that time it has helped the police to protect the public from these most horrific of crimes.
Requiring serious sexual offenders to sign the register for life – as they do now – has broad support from across this House.
However, the Supreme Court ruled last April that not granting sex offenders the opportunity to seek a review is a breach of their human rights – in particular, the right to a private or family life. These are rights, of ...
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The following article by Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor appeared in the Daily Telegraph on 31st January 2011
The Coalition Government has pledged to dramatically reduce the time period that police can retain samples of people who were not charged or convicted of offences.
It follows a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in 2008 that a blanket policy of retaining such profiles indefinitely was illegal.
However, no new laws have yet been introduced and the Supreme Court will today hear a test case that such samples should be ...
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This report by Brian Brady appeared in the Independent on the 30th January 2010
It is more than 50 years since a teenage John Crawford was hauled before Winchester Crown Court, accused of having consensual, but illegal, sex with another man. But it is only in the last decade that he realised exactly what a terrible effect it has had on his life and career.
But now, Mr Crawford and a group of men criminalised by a law that was repealed more than four decades ago are to be freed from a stigma ...
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The following report by David Harrison appeared in the Daily Telegraph on the 31st January
Nurses who were banned from working under a controversial vetting scheme are to launch a major test case against the Government in the European Court.
The move will embarrass ministers and could lead to hundreds more workers taking legal action, at a cost of millions of pounds to the public purse.
The three nurses bringing the case all lost their jobs following ...
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There have been a number of reports in the Press regarding recently published research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into the use of Government Databases. The document Database State reviews a number of Government databases and ranks them according to whether or not, in the opinion of the authors, they meet existing legislative safeguards.
There is a very useful section on databases used in the criminal justice including those used by the police and prison service which raises a number of concern over legality, privacy and consent.
There is some very useful analysis of the report and background information in the:-
Guardian
Independent
BBC
Our attention has also been drawn ...
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The law which puts serious sex offenders on the register for life violates their human rights, three High Court judges said.
Under the Sex Offences Act 2003, sex offenders sentenced to 30 months or more ‘shall be subjected for life’ to being on the register.
But Lord Justice Latham, sitting with Mr Justice Underhill and Mr Justice Flaux, said the law was incompatible with article eight of the Act.
Lord Justice Latham, Mr Justice Underhill and Mr Justice Flaux said that the existing registration scheme wrongly denied them the chance to prove in a review that they no longer posed a risk of ...
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The European Court of Human Rights have determined the retention by the authorities (including the UK police) of fingerprints, cellular samples and DNA profiles after a person has been acquitted or discharged, is unlawful.
See also BBC report ¦ Full text of judgement
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A new prison website has been launced by Mike Leach. It provides a newspapers called CONVERSE, a forum, and a wealth of useful information.
The site (here) is described as the definitive independent web site dedicated to authoritative, balanced, and informed coverage of the penal system of England and Wales – whether your interest in prisons is personal, educational or professional, prisons.org.uk is the place to be.
For well over a decade Prisons.org.uk limited has published the major prison publications for the penal system of England and Wales. These include:-
the (annual) Prisons Handbook;
the (quarterly) Prisoners’ Pocket Directory;
and our (monthly) Converse newspaper.
In addition we ...
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The following case in the European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber may be of some interest. It concerns a child protection case in which the applicants (mother and child) argued that the process of investigation violated their rights to family life, rights to a fair hearing and their right to an effective remedy.
The Court held unanimously that there had been:
a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights;
no violation of Article 6 (right to a fair trial) of the Convention;
a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective ...
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