Catch up with the latest news.
Human Trafficking – New Powers Now in Force
New measures introduced under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 that give police and prosecutors more powers to detect, prosecute and prevent exploitation are now in force. Police can now apply to courts for a Trafficking and Exploitation Risk Order (TERO) when they believe there is a risk… Read more ...Figures Reveal Rise in Sexual Cyber-Crime
Scotland’s Chief Statistician has recently published its latest figures on the number of recorded crimes in Scotland. Recorded Crime Statistics The Recorded Crime in Scotland 2016/17 statistics show: Crimes recorded by the police in Scotland fell by 3% from 246,243 to 238,651, the lowest level of recorded crime since… Read more ...New Tax Evasion Offences Now in Force
Two new criminal offences introduced under the Criminal Finances Act 2017 have recently come into force. One of these offences applies to the evasion of UK taxes and the other applies to the evasion of foreign taxes. It was already a crime to evade tax, or deliberately help another person… Read more ...Europe Struggles to Effectively Tackle Money Laundering
A new report from Europol has revealed that efforts across the EU to tackle money laundering offences are meeting with limited success. According to the report, EU Financial Intelligence Units received almost one million reports in 2014, and over 65% of these reports were received by just two Member States… Read more ...Attitudes to Road Safety Measures
The Department for Transport has recently given an insight into the attitude of members of the public towards transport-related issues in Britain, as revealed in the British Social Attitudes Survey 2016. The survey covered issues such as willingness to change current travel behaviours, attitudes to the environment and transport, congestion… Read more ...Experimental Programme Successful in Reducing Domestic Abuse Reoffending
An experimental programme in England for policing domestic abuse has led to a substantial reduction in reoffending. Researchers at Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology worked with Hampshire Constabulary to conduct the study using the recently developed CARA (Cautions and Relationship Abuse) programme: small-group discussion workshops for men who received conditional… Read more ...Consultation over Development of Sentencing Guidelines
The Scottish Sentencing Council has launched a consultation exercise to seek the views of the public over the development of Scotland’s first sentencing guideline. The guideline sets out the principles and purposes of sentencing for all offences and will influence how offenders are sentenced in Scotland’s courts. Although some relevant… Read more ...DCPCU Involved in Successful Money Laundering Prosecutions
The Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) has been involved in a number of recent successful money laundering prosecutions. The DCPCU The DCPCU is a unique proactive police unit, with a national remit, formed as a partnership between UK Finance, the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police… Read more ...Repealing the Offensive Behaviour and Threatening Communications Act
Members of the public are being asked for their views on proposals to repeal the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act 2012. James Kelly MSP has introduced a Members Bill to fully repeal the 2012 Act, as he believes that the current law is “illiberal”, doesn’t tackle sectarianism… Read more ...