Lawyer news

• Andrew Malkinson case shows importance of securely stored scientific evidence

  03-09-2023 19:46
  
  DNA evidence examined three years after his false conviction for rape in 2004 was vital in exonerating himThe Andrew Malkinson case highlights egregious failings in the criminal justice system, but also the unique power of forensic scientific evidence to bring about redress.In 2007, three years after Malkinson’s conviction and after scientific advances, a new DNA profile was identified from the victim’s clothing, which had been securely archived after the original trial. This was cru
  
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• Andrew Malkinson case shows importance of securely stored forensic evidence

  03-09-2023 19:46
  
  DNA evidence examined three years after his false conviction for rape in 2004 was vital in exonerating himThe Andrew Malkinson case highlights egregious failings in the criminal justice system, but also the unique power of forensic evidence to bring about redress.In 2007, three years after Malkinson’s conviction and after scientific advances, a new DNA profile was identified from the victim’s clothing, which had been securely archived after the original trial. This was crucial to Mal
  
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• Forcing criminals to attend sentencing is illogical | Letter

  03-09-2023 19:04
  
  Jeremy Dein KC says the government’s plan will simply add unnecessary pressure to a prison system already on the verge of collapse. Plus a letter from Duncan CurtisThe news that offenders may be forced into the dock to be sentenced is an irrelevance (Criminals to be forced to attend sentencing in England and Wales, 30 August). We operate a criminal justice process on the brink of collapse, with a huge backlog of cases waiting to be heard – some are five years old.Moreover, our prison
  
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• UN highlights ‘psychological harm’ to UK man jailed since 2012 for phone theft

  03-09-2023 18:00
  
  Exclusive: UN expert reiterates call for review of indefinite sentence of Thomas White, whose family say he now has severe mental health issuesA UN torture expert has called the case of a man driven to psychosis after being jailed in the UK for more than a decade for stealing a mobile phone “emblematic of the psychological harm” caused by indeterminate sentences.Thomas White was handed an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence in 2012 for stealing a mobile phone – fo
  
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• Number of offenders with indefinite sentences recalled to prison soars

  03-09-2023 18:00
  
  Exclusive: Campaigners say ‘imprisonment for public protection’ offenders are being sent back to jail in England and Wales ‘for no good reason’ The number of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) offenders who have been recalled to jail despite not being charged with a further offence has soared in recent years, accounting for almost three-quarters of returns last year.Under the widely discredited England and Wales scheme, which was abolished in 2012 but not retrospect
  
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• Missing evidence led to 16 murder cases in England and Wales not going to trial

  03-09-2023 16:55
  
  Exclusive: Figures for 2021-22 raise concerns about police handling of crucial material used to prosecute the most serious crimesMore than a dozen murder cases and more than 100 sexual offence cases collapsed before trial in England and Wales last year as a result of lost or missing evidence, the Guardian has learned.The findings, obtained by a freedom of information request by criminal justice researchers, raise concerns about police handling of crucial evidence used to prosecute the most serio
  
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• Missing evidence led to 16 homicides in England and Wales not going to trial

  03-09-2023 16:55
  
  Exclusive: Figures for 2021-22 raise concerns about police handling of crucial material used to prosecute the most serious crimesMore than a dozen homicides and more than 100 sexual offence cases collapsed before trial in England and Wales last year as a result of lost or missing evidence, the Guardian has learned.The findings, obtained by a freedom of information request by criminal justice researchers, raise concerns about police handling of crucial evidence used to prosecute the most serious
  
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• ‘The challenges are real’: TUC taskforce to examine AI threat to workers’ rights

  03-09-2023 13:00
  
  Experts aim to draw up UK legislation to protect against misuse of artificial intelligence“We can’t let existential risks blind us to the challenges we face today,” says Gina Neff, a tech expert at the University of Cambridge and co-chair of a new TUC taskforce on artificial intelligence in the workplace. “Those challenges are real, and they’re faced by all of us.”Rishi Sunak is hosting a global AI safety summit in November, amid hair-raising concerns raised b
  
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