Victims' Commissioner Claire Waxman expressed her delight at the government's decision, stating that the change is long overdue and acknowledges the years of campaigning led by bereaved families like Tracey Hanson, who sought justice following the tragic death of her son Josh.
A detective garda who brutally assaulted his wife in front of their young children walked free from court without a custodial sentence, raising serious concerns about justice.
Under the reform, courts must stop handing out such short prison terms other than in a number of specific or exceptional circumstances. MPs passed the measure as part of the government's plan to end the population crisis in prisons.
The Courts Service says it has now been asking for system change for 15 years and yet its staff "currently have no power to ask for the driver number". A blame game has erupted as thousands of motorists are feared to be avoiding penalty points, due to a loophole on the gathering of driver numbers.
As prison sentences have become longer, and as more prisoners are given whole-life tariffs or given minimum sentences of 20, 30 or 40 years, it is harder to persuade them to hold back on their violent instincts. They have nothing to lose. If you are serving a long sentence, you can feel as if you don't have a life ahead of you—your family may well have disowned you, your relationships may have broken down.
"What's most problematic is that the extraordinary has become ordinary. It's just a matter of course now that when you issue an opinion that some people don't like, you're going to get threats, you're going to get death threats, and that is obviously problematic on many levels."
Private detention centers have earned millions in profits and continued to secure contracts with government agencies, despite well documented cases of health and safety violations. It is time for the State of California to use its legal and moral authority to inspect private detention facilities, hold bad actors accountable and close facilities with consistent, documented cases of human rights abuses.
An extortionist who demanded €20,000 from two innocent victims - threatening one that their children's throats would be slit and warning another he would be killed - has argued that his five-year sentence was twice as severe as that handed to his co-accused.
Baby Victoria's body was found in a shopping bag in Brighton in 2023, after her parents concealed her birth and went on the run in an attempt to avoid contact with social services. Marten and Gordon, a convicted rapist, were both sentenced to 14 years for gross negligence manslaughter last year. The review, chaired by Sir David Holmes, sought to identify missed safeguarding opportunities, and to learn lessons from what the review called the "extreme case" of baby Victoria's death.
Metropolitan Police A convicted sex offender who was accidentally released from prison has pleaded guilty to burglary and carrying a knife. Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, became the centre of a manhunt in November after he was mistakenly set free from HMP Wandsworth while on remand awaiting trial for the offences. On Tuesday, Kaddour-Cherif appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court and admitted breaking into a garage in Walthamstow, east London and stealing bikes in January 2024.
[Pam Bondi] said the [Weaponization Working Group] would focus on investigations into Trump conducted by former special counsel Jack Smith and his staff; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James; and any "improper" investigations into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. But after a year, the group has not produced anything publicly.
A man who threatened to rape a teenage girl and encouraged her to self-harm has been jailed. Shabaz Khokar, 24, from London, sent the threat to the victim in Staffordshire via social media, along with images of train tickets he booked to travel to her home. He was arrested at a railway station in the county in August when police were alerted.
The Department of Homeland Security has stopped using software that automatically captured text messages and saved trails of communication between officials, according to sworn court statements filed this week. Instead, the agency began in April to require officials to manually take screenshots of their messages to comply with federal records laws, citing cybersecurity concerns with the autosave software. The policy expects officials to first take screenshots of the text messages on their work phones,
With the Supreme Court potentially poised to invalidate recent tariffs, organizations face a confusing scenario: the possibility of some $200B in refunds to be sought, the specter of tariff reinstatement through other means, and general ongoing unpredictability regarding costs and processes for global trade. Having clear visibility into contract terms - such as price adjustments and renegotiation provisions - is essential to navigating this volatility, while implementing favorable terms in supplier, customer, and partner agreements can help build resilience.
