House of Commons - Home Affairs Committee: Pre-Lisbon Treaty EU Police and Criminal Justice Measures: The UK's Opt-In Decision - HC 615
House of Commons - Home Affairs Committee: Pre-Lisbon Treaty EU Police and Criminal Justice Measures: The UK's Opt-In Decision - HC 615

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Home Affairs Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-10-31

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 9780215063410

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This report is the Home Affairs Committee's response to the House's invitation of 15 July 2013, together with the Justice and European Scrutiny Committees, to submit a report by the end of October 2013 relevant to the exercise of the block opt-out of pre-Lisbon Treaty EU police and criminal justice measures, before the start of negotiations between the Government and the European Commission, Council and other EU member states on measures which the UK wishes to rejoin following exercise of the block opt-out. The Government has given notification of its intention to exercise the block opt-out. Its right to do so, and the conditions attached to the exercise of that right, are contained in Article 10 of Protocol 36 annexed to the EU Treaties. The block opt-out covers 130 EU police and criminal justice measures which had been adopted prior to 1 December 2009, the date of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. The Committee has also set out: (i) That there are many problems with the European Arrest Warrant, in its existing form, in particular that it is on a system of mutual recognition of legal systems which in reality vary significantly; (ii) The Committee welcomes and supports the Government's reform package for the arrest warrant; (iii) The Committee recommends separate votes on the arrest warrant to the rest of the opt-in package at an early stage to provide a parliamentary mandate for the Government's negotiations.; (iv) The Committee concludes that if the Government proceeds with the opt-in as proposed, it will not result in any repatriation of powers. Indeed, the increased jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice may result in a net flow of powers in the opposite direction.

House of Commons - European Scrutiny, Home Affairs and Justice Committees: The Government's Response to the Committee's Reports on the 2014 Block Opt-Out Decision - HC 1177
House of Commons - European Scrutiny, Home Affairs and Justice Committees: The Government's Response to the Committee's Reports on the 2014 Block Opt-Out Decision - HC 1177

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2014-03-26

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13: 9780215069771

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Joint response to HC 978, session 2013-14 (ISBN 9780215066169); HC 954, session 2013-14 (ISBN 9780215066091); and HC 972, session 2013-14 (ISBN 9780215066152). These were in turn Government responses to the European Scrutiny Committee's 21st report, HC 683, session 2013-14 (ISBN 9780215063465); the Home Affairs Committee's 9th report, session 2013-14, HC 615, session 2013-14 (ISBN 9780215063410); and the Justice Committee's 8th report, HC 605, session 2013-14 (ISBN 9780215063403) respectively

Research Handbook on EU Criminal Law
Research Handbook on EU Criminal Law

Author: Valsamis Mitsilegas

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2016-03-25

Total Pages: 659

ISBN-13: 1783473312

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EU criminal law is one of the fastest evolving, but also challenging, policy areas and fields of law. This Handbook provides a comprehensive and advanced analysis of EU criminal law as a structurally and constitutionally unique policy area and field of research. With contributions from leading experts, focusing on their respective fields of research, the book is preoccupied with defining cross-border or ‘Euro-crimes’, while allowing Member States to sanction criminal behaviour through mutual cooperation. It contains a web of institutions, agencies and external liaisons, which ensure the protection of EU citizens from serious crime, while protecting the fundamental rights of suspects and criminals. Students and scholars of EU criminal law will benefit from the comprehensive research present in this Handbook. National and EU policy-makers, as well as judges, defence lawyers and human rights lawyers will find the analysis of current legal action, combined with proposed solutions, useful to their work

House of Commons - Home Affairs Committee: Leadership and Standards in the Police: Follow-Up - HC 756-I
House of Commons - Home Affairs Committee: Leadership and Standards in the Police: Follow-Up - HC 756-I

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Home Affairs Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-11-03

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13: 9780215063441

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The Home Affairs Committee has criticised evidence given by both the officers subject to the disciplinary investigation and their Chief Constables. The individual officers gave evidence which the Committee found to be misleading, possibly deliberately so, and lacking in credibility. The Committee has decided to recall both Sergeant Jones and DS Hinton, next Tuesday 5th November 2013, to apologise for misleading it and has reserved the right to recall Inspector MacKaill should it be found that he too has misled the Committee. Both DS Hinton and Sgt Jones have been referred to the IPCC. The apologies given by Chief Constable Shaw (West Mercia), Sims (West Midlands) and Parker (Warwickshire) were welcomed although the decision taken by Chief Constables Parker and Sims not to redetermine whether their officers should face a misconduct panel was criticised. Mr Parker has also been criticised for seeking to correct the evidence of DS Hinton in a manner which suggested that he lacked impartiality. Assistant Chief Constable Cann (West Midlands) has been criticised for attempting to access the final report of the misconduct investigation prior to it being signed off by the IPCC. The Committee regretted an absence of leadership by all three Chief Constables at a critical time which could have, if utilised earlier, prevented reputational damage to the police service. The Committee believes that the IPCC should have carried out an independent inquiry in this case although it recognises that resource constraints which would have prevented it for completing an investigation quickly were the main factor behind the decision not to do so

House of Commons - European Scrutiny Committee - HC 683
House of Commons - European Scrutiny Committee - HC 683

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-11-07

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9780215063465

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This is an assessment of each of the 129 measures subject to the United Kingdom's block opt-out, including the European Arrest Warrant. This is an area of policy which is highly legally complex and politically sensitive. Yet the Government has failed to provide the information Parliament needs to scrutinise these measures properly. There are two sets of conclusions in the Report: first, the Committee asks detailed follow-up questions on a number of the measures in question, including the European Arrest Warrant. Second, the Government's overall approach is thoroughly analysed. The Committee sees signs of incoherence in Government policy - probably a consequence of coalition politics - and observes that several of the explanations for the 35 measures the Government wants to rejoin appear to have been written as if the Government was not intending to rejoin them, and vice versa. The Committee concludes that the House must be given the opportunity to vote on each of the measures the Government proposes to rejoin before formal negotiations with the European Commission and Council begin

House of Commons - Home Affairs Committee: Drugs: New Psychoactive Substances and Prescription Drugs - HC 819
House of Commons - Home Affairs Committee: Drugs: New Psychoactive Substances and Prescription Drugs - HC 819

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Home Affairs Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-12-20

Total Pages: 78

ISBN-13: 9780215065926

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We are facing an epidemic of psychoactive substances in the UK with deaths increasing by 79% in the last year. New versions of these "legal highs" are being produced at the rate of at least one a week, yet it has taking the Government a year to produce five pages of guidance on the use of alternative legislation. This slow response to the crisis may have led to more deaths. Those who sell these killer substances need to be held responsible. New laws should be enacted to put the onus on them. Especially at this time of year, young people need to take care about what substances they consume so their health and lives are not put at risk. Quick turn around mobile testing units should be utilised at festivals in order in order to facilitate the removal of potentially harmful or illegal substances from the site immediately and more specific education on psychoactive substances should be given in school and colleges. There are also currently 1.5 million people addicted to prescription drugs in the UK. The abuse of these types of substances is taking place in the shadows and its extent is still unquantified. Local GPs need to report their suspicious and collate information to illuminate this problem. Medical Royal Colleges should establish a joint working group to examine whether local health teams are effectively communicating concerns around individuals visiting multiple practices to request specific drugs.

Intolerant Justice
Intolerant Justice

Author: Asif Efrat

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023-01-03

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 019765889X

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"Intolerant Justice examines how national legal systems handle dilemmas of international cooperation: Should our citizens stand trial in foreign courts that do not meet our standards? Should we extradite offenders to countries with a poor human rights record? Should we enforce rulings issued by foreign judges whose values are different from our own? This book argues that ethnocentrism - the human tendency to divide the world into superior in-groups and inferior out-groups - fuels fear and mistrust of foreign justice and sparks domestic political controversies: while skeptics portray foreign legal systems as a danger and threat, others dismiss these concerns. The book traces this dynamic in a range of cases, including the American hesitation to allow criminal trials of troops in the courts of NATO countries; the debate over the proper venue for trying Europeans who joined ISIS as foreign fighters; the dilemma of extradition to China; the British debate over extradition to the U.S. and the EU; the European wariness toward U.S. civil judgments; the American-British divide over free speech and libel suits; the establishment of mutual legal assistance treaties; and cooperation against child abduction. Despite the growing role of law and courts in international politics, Intolerant Justice suggests that cooperation among legal systems often meets resistance - and it shows how this resistance can be overcome"--

HC 629 - Police, the Media, and High Profile Criminal Investigations
HC 629 - Police, the Media, and High Profile Criminal Investigations

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Home Affairs Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 24

ISBN-13: 0215078446

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This report considers the events surrounding the police raid on 14 August of the home of Sir Cliff Richard OBE in Berkshire, and the circumstances under which the BBC came to have advance information about the raid. It concludes that South Yorkshire Police's handling of this situation was inept. The naming of suspects (or the confirming of a name when it is put to a force) when there is no operational need to do so is wrong. South Yorkshire Police should not have tried to cut a deal with the journalist, but rather approached senior BBC executives to explain the damage that such premature disclosure could do to the investigation. The BBC's Director General, Lord Hall, confirmed to the Committee that the BBC would act on such requests from Chief Constables. In the absence of any such approach from South Yorkshire, the BBC was well within its rights to run the story, although as a result Sir Cliff himself has suffered enormous, irreparable damage to his reputation. It appears that the BBC reporter clearly identified the source of his leak as Operation Yewtree. It is unfortunate therefore that South Yorkshire Police did not notify the Metropolitan Police so that the source of the Yewtree leak could be investigated.

HC 800 - Evaluating the new Architecture of Policing: The College of Policing and the National Crime Agency
HC 800 - Evaluating the new Architecture of Policing: The College of Policing and the National Crime Agency

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Home Affairs Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 0215081579

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Since 2010 the Home Secretary has set out an ambitious plan for the new landscape of policing. However, more progress has to be made to declutter the landscape and ensure that the organisations created meet the rapidly evolving challenges facing 21st century policing. Force mergers are clearly back on the agenda. The College of Policing was a great idea that has both vision and purpose. However, numerous hurdles, weak foundations, and an unrepresentative board have hindered its ability to function to its full potential. In time, the College has the power to fashion a new concept of policing. For the local bobby, he or she needs a certificate of policing that is affordable, an oath that is binding and ethics that are ingrained within its DNA, and training that is practical, however at the moment none of this exists. The NCA has been a success, and has proved to be more responsive and more active than its predecessor SOCA, but it is not yet the FBI equivalent that it was hailed to be. Its reputation has been damaged by the unacceptably slow response to the backlog of child abuse cases sent to it by Toronto Police. The NCA must establish practical benchmarks against which its performance can be assessed. Its current asset recovery is not of a sufficient volume when set against its half a billion pound budget.

HC 902 - The Work of the Immigration Directorates: Calais
HC 902 - The Work of the Immigration Directorates: Calais

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Home Affairs Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 49

ISBN-13: 0215084608

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Calais is the closest entry point to the UK from Europe, with frequent ferry services to Dover, the Eurotunnel Shuttle service to Folkestone, and direct passenger trains to London St Pancras. About 10 million passengers and about £89 billion worth of UK trade pass through the port of Calais every year. A further 20 million passengers pass through the tunnel on Eurostar or the Shuttle. Most of the traffic is freight. Most of the passengers are British citizens on leisure trips. The growing number, and living conditions, of migrants in Calais, and the enhanced security measures brought in to counter them, have affected the residents of Calais, the reputation of the port of Calais, and the ease with which trade and traffic can pass between Britain and the Continent. The number of migrants at Calais has increased over 2014, from an estimated 1,300 in September, to about 2,500 by the end of October. The majority are from countries that have been affected by war or civil unrest. Most are men, and from Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea and Syria - in 2013 Syria overtook Afghanistan as the top country of origin of asylum-seekers in the world. Some of the migrants live in squats and small camps in the town of Calais, but most live in makeshift tents made out of plastic sheets and canvas, poorly constructed, located in empty industrial sites or woodland. The camps are not permanent and Calais is not the final destination, but a staging post for migrants wishing to enter the UK illegally. The UK cannot ignore the issues around Calais. While security in France is the responsibility of the French authorities, the UK operates juxtaposed border controls in Calais and Coquelles. These juxtaposed controls enable all border administration for entry to the UK to take place before passengers and vehicles leave France. Efficient management of queues and the ability to deliver on time are important, both to avoid disruption to carriers' timetables, and to avoid the excessive build-up of traffic on the surrounding road network. As well as ensuring the efficient and timely processing of travellers and freight, the border controls are needed to ensure the integrity of the UK border.