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Crime and Justice
Crime, Justice, Citizenship and Equalities
Latest news
11 July 2007
New bills to be published in the Autumn
The Queen's speech this Autumn will include several bills in this policy area.
The Coroners Bill will help the bereaved, give people more powers to challenge verdicts, establish a new Chief Coroner and give coronors more investigative powers.
The Counter Terrorism Bill will intorduce pwoers to ban convicted terrorists from travelling, change the law to allow questioning after charging and possibly extend the period of detention for suspects.
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill will bring in new community sentences for those convicted of non-serious offences, allowing resources to target violent and repeat offenders. It will also introduce Violent Offenders Orders to restrict violent offenders after sentencing, and new immigration statuses for those convicted of violent or terrorist offences.
Conference 2007 – Crime, Justice, Citizenship and Equalities announcements
There will be a review of self-defence laws, to provide greater protection to victims of crime.
A new fund to support neighbourhood police patrols – 10,000 mobile computers and fingerprint machines will allow officers to do more work on site and mean less time wasted returning to stations.
There will a local beat patrol of neighbourhood police officers in every area.
Safety budgets shared between police, councils and other agencies will help fight crime and anti-social behaviour.
There will be further measures to fight gun crime and the gang culture, starting in the cities worst affected.
National network of specialist help centres for rape victims to be doubled, from 18 to 36.
Every area will have its own local crime figures published, to reassure local people about the true level of crime.
October 10 2007
Pre-budget report
The pre-budget report had a number of announcements on spending – see here for details
November 6 2007
Queen’s Speech has new bills
There were 29 bills and draft bills mentioned in the Queen’s Speech on November 6 2007. For more details on the Bills relating to this Commission, click here .
November 15 2007
Security stepped up at likely targets
The Prime Minister announced that security will be stepped up at hundreds of railway stations, airports, ports and power stations. Airport-style security measures will be increased up at the 250 busiest railway stations.
December 19 2007
Self-defence laws to be changed
The self-defence laws are to be tightened to give people more confidence if they tackle criminals, the government has said.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced a review of the law at the Labour Party conference in September. People will still have to show that they acted instinctively and the force was not disproportionate.
The measures are designed to give the public greater confidence when challenging burglars or other criminals. By strengthening the law, ministers want to ensure that people are not put off intervening by fear of getting prosecuted themselves.
Other Pages
Commission Work Programme 2007
Queens Speech November 2006