Keeping up to date is an essential part of a criminal defence lawyer’s work: new legislation and judicial decisions can affect the assessment of a case, procedural choices and defence options. Alongside my practice, I therefore carry out daily research and study, consulting official sources, legal journals and contributions available online.
This review grows out of that work. Here I share selected developments in criminal law, criminal procedure, sentence enforcement and corporate liability, with brief explanations and links for further reading. It is intended for colleagues, clients and anyone seeking to understand how criminal justice is evolving and what those changes mean in practice.
Archived edition.
Protective measures must not prevent a victim from participating in proceedings. The Court allows restoration of the deadline where isolation in a shelter prevented knowledge of the trial despite formally valid service. The actual impediment must be assessed, rather than service formalities alone. Counsel should therefore document the protective arrangements and the victim’s lack of knowledge of the proceedings.
The offence can arise even where the person has no investigative duties. The Court requires a connection between the misdirected investigation and the qualified person’s public office or service. The manipulation need not occur in the exercise of that function. Defence analysis should therefore examine the person’s actual status and its relationship with the facts under investigation.
In domestic abuse proceedings, the victim may respond to an application to revoke or replace a precautionary measure. A failure to respond does not establish that the risk of repetition has disappeared. The judge must assess that risk on concrete evidence. Defence applications should therefore document changes in the relevant circumstances rather than rely solely on the victim’s lack of opposition.
A complainant’s unjustified failure to attend as a witness does not extinguish a stalking offence. The Court distinguishes tacit withdrawal from the formal procedural withdrawal required for stalking. Where withdrawal is permitted, a declaration in the legally prescribed form is needed. Defence counsel should check the applicable prosecution rules and the validity of any withdrawal rather than infer it from absence at the hearing.