Catch up with the latest news.
Calls for Scottish Parliamentary Human Rights Committee
A recent report has criticised the human rights record of the Scottish Parliament’s Committees, and in particular its Justice Committee.The report was produced for the Cross Party Group on Human Rights at Holyrood by the Glasgow Human Rights Network, which had been asked to establish the degree of consideration given… Read more ...Investigating crimes in Europe
The police would get better and faster support from their counterparts in other EU countries, for example when asking them to conduct house searches or interview witnesses, under a proposed European Investigation Order endorsed by the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee. “The European Investigation Order will provide us with better… Read more ...Government to legislate on criminal legal aid
The Scottish Government has introduced a new Bill to the Scottish Parliament as part of its four-year ‘Making Justice Work’ Programme. The Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Bill is the first in a series of legislative measures to be taken forward under the programme. The Bill marks… Read more ...Human Rights and Democracy Report
Foreign Secretary William Hague has launched Human Rights and Democracy: The 2011 Foreign & Commonwealth Report, which is a comprehensive look at the human rights work of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office around the world in 2011. The report highlights the UK's human rights concerns in 28 key countries. The… Read more ...Fair trial rights to become law
EU Justice Ministers have adopted a new law that the European Commission had proposed to ensure defendants' right to information during criminal proceedings. Under the 'Directive on the right to information in criminal proceedings', suspects of a criminal offence will be informed of their rights in a language they understand… Read more ...UK delivers European court reform
The UK’s pledge to reform the European Court of Human Rights has been successfully fulfilled, according to Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke.Reform of the Court was one of the key priorities for the UK’s chairmanship of the Council of Europe and the foundations of the reforms were laid… Read more ...ECHR judgments relating to UK government
Research released by the Equality and Human Rights Commission at the Brighton conference on the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), shows that just a tiny minority of rulings by the Strasbourg Court are against the UK government.The research shows that of the nearly 12,000 applications brought against the UK… Read more ...Report published on women offenders
The Commission on Women Offenders, established to examine how female offenders are dealt with in the criminal justice system, has produced its final report. The Commission’s remit was to set out a series of measures to help reverse the continued rise in the female prison population, which has doubled in… Read more ...Filming in the High Court
The Judiciary of Scotland has announced that STV has been given permission by Lord Hamilton the Lord President and Lord Justice General to film Lord Bracadale sentencing David Gilroy at the High Court in Edinburgh on 18th April 2012. David Gilroy was found guilty of the murder of Suzanne Pilley… Read more ...