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News

News Archives: Index

October 7, 2010: Probation Set For Industrial Action

October 5, 2010: Turning Prisoners Into Taxpayers

October 4, 2010: Murder Changes Now In Force

September 20, 2010: Probation Programmes Face Cuts

August 24, 2010: Victorian Poor Law Records Online

August 10, 2010: Justice Job Cuts

July 28, 2010: Prison Violence Growing

July 22, 2010: Police Numbers: Latest Figures

July 22, 2010: New Jurisdiction Rules

July 16, 2010: CCJS On Prison And Probation Spending Under Labour

July 15, 2010: Latest Statistics On Violent And Sexual Crime

July 15, 2010: Latest National Crime Figures

July 15, 2010: New Chief Prisons Inspector

July 14, 2010: Hard Times Ahead For Prisons: Anne Owers

July 14, 2010: Prison Does Not Work: Ken Clarke

July 13, 2010: Criminal Justice Reform: Sentencing and Rehabilitation

July 13, 2010: Criminal Justice Reform Priorities

July 12, 2010: What Price Public Protection, Asks Probation Chief Inspector

July 12, 2010: NOMS has failed, says Napo

July 10, 2010: IPCC To Investigate Death of Raoul Moat

July 9, 2010: Women In Prison: New Report

July 9, 2009: Unjust Deserts: Imprisonment for Public Protection

July 8, 2010: Police Search Powers Change

July 7, 2010: Make 'Legal High' Illegal, Says ACMD

July 2, 2010: Failing Children In Prison

July 2, 2010: Police Buried Under a Blizzard of Guidance: HMIC

July 1, 2010: Freedom To Change The Law?

June 30, 2010: A New Outlook On Penal Reform?

June 30, 2010: Revolving Door Of Offending Must Stop, Says Clarke

June 30, 2010: Ken Clarke: Speech on Criminal Justice Reform

June 29, 2010: No More Police Targets

June 26, 2010: Family Intervention Projects Questioned

June 25, 2010: Cutting Criminal Justice

June 24, 2010: Napo on Sex Offenders Report

June 23, 2010: Closing Courts: The Cuts Begin

June 23, 2010: Strategy To Tackle Gangs

June 15, 2010: Courts and Mentally Disordered Offenders

June 8, 2010: Working With Muslims in Prison

June 1, 2010: Your Chance To Nominate a QC

October 4, 2010: Murder Changes Now In Force

Changes to the law on murder contained in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 come into force today.

These provisions:

  • replace the partial defence to murder of diminished responsibility with a modernised definition based on the concept of ‘an abnormality of mental functioning which arose from a recognised medical condition'
  • abolish the existing partial defence to murder of provocation. This will be replaced by the partial defence to murder of ‘loss of control’. The partial defence will be available where a person’s loss of self control was attributable to a fear of serious violence, or in response to words or conduct which caused the defendant to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged
  • amend the Infanticide Act 1938 so that it is clear that the offence and defence of infanticide are available only in respect of a woman who would otherwise be found guilty of murder or manslaughter.

These changes are based on Law Commission recommendations made in their review of homicide law in 2006 and were fully debated by Parliament and passed into law in 2009.

These changes are based on Law Commission recommendations made in their review of homicide law in 2006 and were fully debated by Parliament and passed into law in 2009.

A government consultation paper ‘Murder and Manslaughter: Proposals for Reform of the Law’ was launched on 29 July 2008.The consultation drew on recommendations made by the Law Commission following their review of the homicide law in 2006.  The provisions were debated fully by Parliament and passed into law in 200