Insights

It has been announced that a scheme which will allow people to plead guilty online will go ahead, despite criticism from access to justice campaigners. In the Ministry of Justice report ‘Transforming our Justice System’, published this month, the Government re-emphasised its message that the justice system must provide ‘better value’ and should be faster and easier to use.

A Law Commission report has found major flaws in the system for the disclosure of criminal records in England and Wales. The Home Office requested the Law Commission examine the effectiveness of what is known as "filtering". Filtering is a system by which an individual is not required to disclose their full criminal offending history if the convictions are for old and minor offences. The report came back with the conclusion that the law surrounding disclosure was confusing, and recommended a full review of the current regime.

The media can often have an uneasy relationship with the law, particularly given that a number of publications will employ unusual tactics in order to remain ‘ahead of the game’ in what is known to be an incredibly competitive industry. The recent case of Anthony Jonathan France v R is a prime example of this, where a criminal journalist succeeded in appealing his conviction for his part in making payments to a public official in exchange for news stories.

Football is close to the heart of many people in the UK with a great many having great adoration for the talent and skill of those that play ‘the beautiful game’. Unfortunately, a dark cloud has gathered over the world of football recently, following revelations from former players that they had been the victims of sexual abuse by some of their coachers/ trainers when they were young. The number of reports of historic sexual abuse in British football has snowballed in recent weeks, with a report highlighting that the police are investigating as many as 83 potential suspects (reported here)

sexual offences