Justice

This Library Note provides background reading in advance of the second reading in the House of Lords of the Justice and Security Bill on 19 June 2012.

The Crime and Courts Bill would establish a new National Crime Agency to combat organised crime, and contains provisions for reforms of the courts system (including judicial appointments and to allow broadcasting of certain court proceedings) as well as provisions on immigration, drug driving and community sentencing. This Library Note provides background reading in advance of the Bill’s second reading in the House of Lords.

This Library Note provides background information on steps to bring to trial Joseph Kony and other leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army.

This Library Note provides an overview of the blockade of Gaza by the Government of Israel, including its history, attempts to bypass the blockade and recent developments. It then examines the impact of the blockade on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and finally the response of the British Government.

This Library Note provides an overview of the situation of Dalits in South Asia and looks at the issue of caste-based discrimination in India. It also examines the Government’s international development policy for India, currently the largest recipient of UK development aid.

This Library Note provides background information in advance of the second reading in the House of Lords of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

This Library Note provides background reading for the debate on the European Convention on Human Rights.

Crime and Security Bill (HL Bill 45 of 2009–10) The Crime and Security Bill is wide-ranging. It contains provisions to reduce the reporting requirements on the police when they stop and search individuals; to set out a statutory framework for the retention and destruction of biometric material, including DNA data; to provide the police with the power to issue “go” notices to alleged perpetrators of domestic violence; to extend injunctions for gang-related violence to 14-17 year-olds; to require courts to make parenting orders when a young person breaches an ASBO; to introduce a licensing scheme for wheel-clamping businesses; to create a new criminal offence of possessing a mobile phone in prison; to create a new offence of failing to take reasonable precautions to prevent a person under 18 from having unauthorised access to an air weapon; to compensate the victims of overseas terrorism; to enable licensing authorities to restrict the sale of alcohol between 3am and 6am; and to give the police new powers to search a person subject to a control order. The Bill has completed its passage through the House of Commons and is due for a second reading debate in the House of Lords on 29th March 2010. This House of Lords Library Note focuses on the debates on the retention and destruction of DNA data on the National DNA Database. It also gives brief details of the other parts of the Bill that were discussed at report stage in the Commons.

The Appellate Jurisdiction of the House of Lords (Updated November 2009). House of Lords Library Note 2009/010 From 1st October 2009 the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords was transferred to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. This Library Note gives an account of the history of the appellate jurisdiction, its functioning in practice and describes the Supreme Court.

Coroners and Justice Bill. House of Lords Library Note 2009/004

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. House of Lords Library Note 2008/001

The appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords. House of Lords Library Note 2007/008.