Using police cells to detain people with mental illness to be banned under new reforms

The Prime Minister has announced that police cells will no longer be used to detain people experiencing mental illness. The announcement comes as part of a series of reforms under the government’s new approach to mental health as a result of the overhaul of the Mental Health Act.

In 2017/18, 49,551 people were detained under the Mental Health Act and in 2016/17 the use of police cells and custody suites as a place of safety accounted for 3.9% of detentions. One of the key factors in reforming the policy is racial bias, with black people four times more likely to be detained under the act than white people.

Source: The Independent

New support for witnesses of serious violence and murder

The justice secretary has announced extra support for those who witness homicides and serious violence. This will give witnesses the same access to specialist support as victims of the crime itself.

This announcement comes as part of the public health approach set out by the Prime Minister. This approach is aimed at targeting the root cause of violent crime through ensuring professionals from a number of sectors including health, education and, the voluntary sector play a role in protecting people from serious violence.

Source: Gov.uk

£9.8 million fund to confront knife crime and gang culture

Community-backed projects in 21 areas across England will each receive a share of £9.5 million to help families who are vulnerable to the devastating effects of knife crime and gang culture.

The Supporting Families Against Youth Crime fund will enable keyworkers, community groups, teachers and other professionals working with children and young people at risk, to intervene early and help stop them from becoming drawn into gang crime, serious violence and the youth justice system.

A further £300,000 will also be available for local authorities across England to train frontline staff on how to tackle childhood trauma. This follows evidence that many who are vulnerable to serious violence and youth crime have experienced childhood trauma that has affected their mental health and confidence.

Knife crime continues to be a real concern for communities across the country and this government is determined to act and keep our streets safe. These latest preventative measures form part of the government’s ongoing Serious Violence Strategy.

Source: Gov.uk

Consultation on Revised National Standards for Children in the Youth Justice System

The national standards for youth justice services are for youth offending teams and other professionals working with children in the justice system.  The Youth Justice Board checks services to make sure these standards are met, on behalf of the Justice Secretary.  The current standards were published in April 2013 and the purpose of this consultation is to get feedback from the sector on revised standards.  These draft revised standards were created with support from a range of experts working in the sector, regulatory bodies, inspectorates and other government departments. They are based on our ‘child first, offender second’ principle and are outcomes focused.  The consultation closes at 3pm on Monday 26 November 2018.

Protecting All Victims of Online Abuse

A scoping report assessing the state of criminal law in relation to online abuse was published on 01 November by the Law Commission.  The report raises concerns about the lack of coherence in the current criminal law and the problems this causes for victims, police and prosecutors. It is also critical of the current law’s ability to protect people harmed by a range of behaviour online including:

• Receiving abusive and offensive communications
• “Pile on” harassment, often on social media
• Misuse of private images and information

The Commission is calling for:

• Reform and consolidation of existing criminal laws dealing with offensive and abusive communications online
• A specific review considering how the law can more effectively protect victims who are subject to a campaign of online harassment
• A review of how effectively the criminal law protects personal privacy online

In a similar vein, the NSPCC and the London Grid for Learning (LGfL) recently conducted the largest ever UK survey of children’s online experiences and have published their findings of this survey.  They note that the new online tools of livestreaming and video-chatting have exploded in popularity within the last few years but that their live and unpredictable nature can pose serious risks to children.  In order to tackle the risks associated with livestreaming the NSPCC is therefore calling for:

• Specific standards to be a requirement of livestreaming sites, for example allowing children to livestream to approved contacts only and real-time moderation using algorithms to detect nudity and other behaviours that may place children at risk.
• A regulator who must be able to hold non-compliant sites to account with appropriate powers to investigate platforms, impose regulatory conditions and issue financial penalties
• Regulatory requirements for platforms to adopt mechanisms that allow them to proactively detect grooming.

Supporting Families Against Youth Crime Fund

The government have announced a new £5million ‘Supporting Families Against Youth Crime’ fund to support vulnerable children and families, early interventions to turn young people away from crime as well as giving the chance to councils to bid for funding to tackle youth and gang crime in high-risk areas.  The fund will come into effect immediately, supporting the government’s ‘public health’ approach to tackling the root causes of serious violence underpinned by the Serious Violence Strategy.

Children’s Commissioner Report on Vulnerable Babies

A Crying Shame, a report published on 17 October 2018 by the Children’s Commissioner for England, suggests there are 15,800 babies under the age of one considered by local authorities to be vulnerable or highly vulnerable and at risk of harm, but still living at home.  This amounts to around 100 babies per local authority and comes at a time when many local authorities are struggling with unprecedented financial pressures that are putting increasing strain on children’s social services.  The report also highlights that:

• 50,000 children aged 0-5, including 8,300 babies under the age of one, are living in households where all three of the ‘toxic trio’ are present: domestic violence, alcohol or drug dependency and severe mental ill-health. Less than half of these children (37% or 18,500) are on local authority child protection plans.
• A further 160,000 children aged 0-5, including 25,000 babies under one, live in a household where two of the ‘toxic trio’ are present.

Alice Miles, the Children’s Commissioner’s Director of Strategy and author of the report said: “This analysis suggests there are many thousands of babies living in households carrying very high risks, many of whom may not even be known to social services. We know infants are especially vulnerable to being harmed by parental abuse or neglect. With local authorities under such pressure financially, and troubled families funding coming to an end in 2020, it’s vital that ministers make the protection of vulnerable children a priority in policy and funding.”

 

Domestic Abuse Bill Recommendations, Stalkers Register and Outlawing Gagging Orders

Last week the Home Affairs Committee published a report pertaining to the Domestic Abuse bill, as part of a short inquiry into the government’s proposed strategy for tackling domestic abuse (DA).  The report made a number of recommendations:

• A Violence Against Women and Girls and Domestic Abuse Bill rather than the more confined scope of a DA bill, which explicitly recognises the gender inequality underlying DA and would facilitate a more effective, joined-up and cross-Government strategy.
• Amending the standard Universal Credit household payment to individual payments for couples in order to negate the increased risk of DA victim homicides caused by economic abuse and a lack of financial means to leave
• Analysis of the potential impact of and consult on options for introducing domestic abuse leave in the UK
• According to Women’s Aid, 60% of referrals to their refuges are refused due to a lack of bed spaces; this huge gap in capacity must be filled and the spaces required must be available
• Analysis of the operation of refuges as a national network as well as a new statutory responsibility on local authorities for refuge places to be available, supported by ring-fenced funding
• Comprehensive review of funding across all aspects of support for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence
• The introduction of a new national funding mechanism, informed by the outcomes of a comprehensive review
• Provision of specialist domestic abuse services for protected, vulnerable or minority groups, and for people with additional needs such as debts or drug or alcohol dependency
• That the devastating effect of DA on children is explicitly recognised in the legislation and a clear strategy developed to ensure protection and support necessary for recovery are given
• A review of the impact on children of the interaction between the family courts, children’s services, CAFCASS and the police, with particular reference to contact arrangements and, without further delay, provisions in the draft bill to prohibit the cross-examination of a victim by a perpetrator of DA
• Address concerns of police forces sharing details of victims with the Home Office for immigration control, which is contrary to national police guidance, makes it harder for particularly vulnerable victims to seek protection and access justice and conflicts with government stated objectives
• The creation of a national register of serial stalkers and domestic violence perpetrators. The benefits of such a register in order to overcome the inadequacies with current arrangements for non-molestation orders have recently been reported in The Independent and The Times

It was recently published in a Telegraph article that, as part of the Domestic abuse bill, plans are being made which will stop companies from drawing up Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) when they relate to complaints of a criminal nature.  NDAs are used by companies to prevent employees from going to the police with details of sexual abuse at the hands of bosses, often with the threat of financial penalties if a criminal complaint is made.  New laws will mean that a legal duty will be placed upon businesses to instead protect employees from unreasonable behaviour in the workplace.

Revised Guidance on Youth Referral Orders

Updated guidance was published early this month on referral orders for young people.  This guidance applies from 9 October 2018 and includes information on:

• The legislation setting up referral orders
• Youth offender panels and their part in the referral process
• Making the orders in court
• The role of youth offending teams
• Recruiting representative panels
• Training and supporting panel members

New Sentencing Guidelines for Child Cruelty Offences Including FGM

At the beginning of September the Sentencing Council published new guidelines on sentencing those guilty of child cruelty, causing or allowing a child to die or suffer serious physical harm and failing to protect a girl from the risk of female genital mutilation (FGM).  This revised guidance, which comes into effect on 01 January 2019, replaces previous guidance and provides a way to navigate through complex and varied offences towards effective assessment and consistent and proportionate sentencing.  Other features of the guidelines include:

• The introduction of a new aggravating factor of an offender blaming others for an offence
• The addition of “offender with professional responsibility for the victim” indicating high culpability
• Additional guidance for courts in considering custodial sentences and the impact this would have on the victim and other children in cases where the offender has parental responsibility and is the sole or primary carer