Legal news
Criminal Justice Bill
Wide ranging reforms to the Scottish justice system which aim to help police and prosecutors tackle crime at every level came before parliament today.
From taking the fight to the 'Mr Bigs' involved in serious and organised crime, to strengthening the law on stalking, creating a Scottish Sentencing Council to ensure greater transparency and consistency in the sentencing process, and punishing low level offenders by sending them out to repay their dues to the community, the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill is the largest piece of legislation introduced by the Scottish Government.
It includes measures to:
* Create a Scottish Sentencing Council to ensure greater transparency and consistency in the sentencing process
* Make sentences served in the community more robust, rapid and visible through the creation of the Community Payback Order and introduce a presumption against very short sentences in order to end the revolving door of re-offending
* Take the fight to those involved in organised crime through the creation of new serious organised crime offences
* New measures to strengthen the law on stalking
* Crack down on prisoners who make use of advances in mobile phone technology to run their criminal empires from prison
* Raise the age at which a child can be prosecuted in adult criminal courts from eight to 12 to help ensure the rights and needs of children are balanced properly with the protection of communities
* Help the courts and prosecutors through a number of sensible reforms to the criminal law and court procedures - ensuring the interests of justice are served and protecting the rights of victims and witnesses
* Assist in the detection of crime through improving law on the retention of DNA and fingerprint data for use in investigating and prosecuting crime
*Provide a statutory framework for the disclosure of evidence to the defence in criminal cases - confirming the integrity as to how our courts deal with cases
Plans to introduce a presumption against sentences of six months or less for low level offenders were amended last week to introduce 'a presumption against sentences of three months or less' with the option of increasing to six months with parliamentary approval.
There are also opposition amendments by Labour and the Conservatives to introduce a mandatory minimum sentence for anyone caught in possession of a knife, and an amendment by Sandra White MSP seeking to introduce greater restrictions on lap dancing clubs.
June 2010
Criminal Justice Bill (date added: 30 June 2010)
Revised approach to director disqualifications (date added: 29 June 2010)
McGrigors named National Law Firm of the Year (date added: 25 June 2010)
Community punishments to replace shortest prison sentences (date added: 24 June 2010)
Enhanced engagement with EU, urges report (date added: 23 June 2010)
New Glasgow office for MacRoberts (date added: 22 June 2010)
Interviews in police stations (date added: 16 June 2010)
Review of Sheriff and Jury procedure (date added: 14 June 2010)
New Sheriff (date added: 14 June 2010)
Updated Children's Hearing system one step closer (date added: 11 June 2010)
Qualified support for Housing Bill (date added: 11 June 2010)
New EU protection for self-employed workers (date added: 08 June 2010)
Award for Tods Murray (date added: 07 June 2010)
Regulating non-lawyer will writers (date added: 02 June 2010)
Child protection guidance (date added: 02 June 2010)
