Justice secretary concerned at use of fines and cautions for serious offences The way "instant justice" cautions are used to deal with some offences involving violence, including 40,000 assaults each year, is to be reviewed after concerns raised by magistrates, the director of public prosecutions and senior police officers. The justice secretary, Jack Straw, said that he and the home secretary,...
Move follows concerns raised by magistrates, the director of public prosecutions and senior police officers A review of the police use of cautions to deal with violent offenders was ordered today by the justice secretary, Jack Straw, after concerns voiced by magistrates, the director of public prosecutions and senior police officers. The announcement was made after it was claimed that up to 40,000...
By Allison Morris 03/11/09 Dissident republican Paddy Murray has been arrested by the PSNI at the gates of a jail in England to be questioned about previous paramilitary activity. Murray had been serving a four-year sentence for abduction. Last October he was spirited out of Maghaberry Prison amid allegations he had been working as a Special Branch informer prior to his arrest. The once senior member...
Tackle disadvantage and boost life chance opportunities Edited by Nick Adams: A major programme designed to tackle disadvantage among young people and children in the West Belfast and Greater Shankill area of Northern Ireland, was recently unveiled by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness MP. The Integrated Services for Children and Young People Programme aims to increase the life chances and aspirations...
The moving of problem prisoners ahead of security audits has happened at a third London jail Dangerous prisoners were removed from one of Britain's biggest jails just before an internal security audit, raising fears that the practice of "ghosting" inmates around the prison system may be more widespread than was acknowledged. A Prison Service investigation is examining how difficult prisoners...
Look, we know most of the alleged Al Qaeda detainees are innocent , with far too many of them victims of horrifying tactics like the ones reported in this Raw Story article . Will there ever be justice for them, or will President Obama continue to turn a blind eye to the Bush torture policies? Because with recent reports of a known rendition plane in Birmingham, England, I have to wonder if those...
The CIA relied on intelligence based on torture in prisons in Uzbekistan, a place where widespread torture practices include raping suspects with broken bottles and boiling them alive, says a former British ambassador to the central Asian country. Craig Murray, the rector of the University of Dundee in Scotland and until 2004 the UK’s ambassador to [...]
The threat of crime to England supporters — and of hooligans inflicting themselves on the locals during the World Cup finals — has brought about a massive increase in police resources in South Africa for next summer’s tournament.
“..The CIA relied on intelligence based on torture in prisons in Uzbekistan .. .. a place where widespread torture practices include raping suspects with broken bottles and boiling them alive, says a former British ambassador to the central Asian country. Craig Murray, the rector of the University of Dundee in Scotland and until 2004 the UK’s ambassador [...]
Prospective judges will no longer have to declare if they are Freemasons, the government has announced . For the past 11 years, anyone applying to be a judge or a magistrate for the first time had to declare on an application form whether they belong to the Freemasonry. But Jack Straw, the justice secretary, said that as a review had shown no evidence of impropriety or malpractice as a result of a...
The Bank of England's rate-setters have decided to pump an extra £25bn into the economy in their quantitative easing (QE) programme. The Bank has already spent £175bn on QE, which involves printing money to buy assets from banks and other companies to stimulate the economy. But despite all the many billions being spent, small businesses have seen a seventh consecutive month of reduced...
“Stoned people aren’t a danger to others,” [Professor David Nutt] says. [I don't know if this is entirely true, but] “Classifying it as B [criminally] will be a disaster, because anyone caught in possession three times can be sent to prison for five years. The prison population will increase, those people will find it hard [...]
This Is Punishment!? More like their dreams come true, minus the little boys WARNING! Harsh Language Alert! File this one under the "Homosexuality is Normal, How?" file. But I still fail to see how these guys are about to undergo anything that they would consider unpleasant. After all, they aren't going to country club prison ... they're going to getting pounded in the ass prison . For these...
Inspired by Penddu's great work in the previous post, I thought I'd try out a couple of experiments. As I said in the comments last time, I'd prefer to see slightly larger constituencies, averaging about six members each. In the Republic of Ireland, seats are between 3 and 5 members, which is fine for a country where there are "two-and-a-half" parties. But in Northern Ireland that wouldn't...
• Former PM's son 'should face justice', says Mann • Scotland Yard confirms it will interview ex-officer The British mercenary Simon Mann today vowed to testify in court against Sir Mark Thatcher and the oil tycoon Eli Calil, the two men he alleges were co-conspirators in the failed attempt to take over Equatorial Guinea in 2004. Speaking as he flew back to Britain from the west African...