The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 provides the UK Supreme Court and the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland with the power to depart from retained EU case law after the end of the transition period. Draft regulations, introduced by the Government in October 2020, seek to extend this power to the Court of Appeal and other equivalent courts and tribunals. This article looks at the detail of the regulations and recent scrutiny that has taken place.
Documents to download
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Criminal Records Bill [HL]: Briefing for Lords Stages (195 KB, PDF)
The Criminals Records Bill [HL] is a private member’s bill introduced by Lord Ramsbotham (Crossbench). The Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords on 29 June 2017, and is scheduled to receive its second reading on 23 February 2018. The Bill proposes to amend the length of time it takes for an offender’s caution or conviction to become ‘spent’ under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Setting out the purpose of the Bill, Lord Ramsbotham explained:
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 has long been criticised because, by demanding the disclosure of many offences, particularly those committed as a child, it prevents rehabilitation. The Labour Government published a review entitled Breaking the Circle in 2002, followed by a consultation, but did not change the Act. As part of its ‘Rehabilitation Revolution’, the Coalition Government published another consultation document entitled Breaking the Cycle in 2010, in which the Act was described as ‘being inconsistent with contemporary sentencing practice’. There was however no mention of the Act in the Government’s response to the consultation, but two reforms were included in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. Since then a Disclosure and Barring Service has been introduced, which the Law Commission has pronounced to lack coherence. The Bill seeks to clarify the present position regarding the disclosure of offences, and rename the Act the Criminal Records Act.
Related Links
Documents to download
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Criminal Records Bill [HL]: Briefing for Lords Stages (195 KB, PDF)
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The Law Enforcement and Security (Separation Issues etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 allow for the implementation of the separation provisions in the UK-EU withdrawal agreement relating to law enforcement and security cooperation.
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‘Hate crime’ is used to describe a range of criminal behaviour that a victim or other person perceives to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person’s disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity. These aspects of a person’s identity are referred to as ‘protected characteristics’. There have been recent calls to extend the protected characteristics to cover sex and gender. This would see misogyny become a hate crime.
