It is actually a constitutional right that has been reiterated by The Supreme Court that private citizens may prosecute alleged crimes before the courts.
It could be that an individual or company feels frustrated that the state has not acted in an effective way and they then decide to go forward with a private prosecution.
The government has conducted a review of the process for prisoners for release on temporary licence – here are their findings and changes to be made…
Well, there has been research conducted in this area which shows that a horrifically high number of errors, reaching the thousands are made every year, with many going completely undetected. While some mistakes don’t have too much impact in practice, other failures lead to unlawful sentences being imposed.
In criminal law, we use two different standards of proof, the most well known is ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ (although these days expressed as ‘so that you are sure’), and the balance of probabilities.
The aim of the legislation is to address and help to reduce the current problems in relation to knife crime and other serious weapons. It remains to be seen as to whether the new measures will be effective and we will be monitoring all new measures being brought in very closely.
