Labour Government 2024: Key areas of potential reform of the criminal justice system

With Labour campaigning successfully under the banner of ‘Change’, and dedicating one of its five manifesto mission statements to “halving serious violent crime and raising confidence in the police and criminal justice system to its highest levels”, we review what the party has said and how the new government may develop its plans.
 

Policing and courts

Birmingham MP and former practising barrister Shabana Mahmood has been appointed as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in the new Labour government. She faces significant challenges concerning the functioning of the criminal justice system - from inadequate legal aid provision and growing court backlogs to crumbling court infrastructure and inadequate prison capacity – what the manifesto described as a “justice system {that} has been allowed to grind to a halt.”

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Pledges in the Labour manifesto included:

• addressing the courts backlog;
• ensuring more prosecutors are available by allowing Associate Prosecutors to work on appropriate cases;
• restoring neighbourhood policing with thousands of extra officers and equipping officers with the powers they need;
• setting up local prevention partnerships to identify young people who risk being drawn into violence and to intervene with them, as well as placing youth workers and mentors in A&E units and Pupil Referral Units;
• strengthening rules to prevent the online sale of knives, with executives of online companies that flout these rules being personally held to account through tough sanctions;
• introducing a new offence of criminal exploitation of children, to target gangs that lure young people into violence and crime.

Though the manifesto sets out how the policing measures will be funded by improved procurement and efficiencies in the police force, Ministry of Justice funding is not protected (in the same way as that of the Home Office or NHS), and so there are no guarantees of increased spending. We will likely need to wait for the first Autumn budget for a true indication of the level of investment the new government is willing and able to make in the criminal justice system.

It is worth noting that the Prime Minister has appointed two experienced human rights lawyers, Richard Hermer KC and Sarah Sackman, as Attorney General and Solicitor General respectively. Emily Thornberry MP was expected to take the Attorney General role, having spent several years in the shadow ministerial role.

 

Sentencing and prison reform

The Labour manifesto promised “Getting a grip on our prisons and reducing reoffending”. Indeed, prison reform was a key question in the first press conference delivered by the new Prime Minister and a focus of media headlines. The appointment of James Timpson OBE, former Chair of the Prison Reform Trust and high-profile prison reform campaigner, has been interpreted as emphasising the government’s commitment here.

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The Labour manifesto levelled significant criticism at the parlous state of the prison system in England and Wales, and set out a number of clear pledges including improving offenders’ access to purposeful activity and reviewing probation governance.

Interestingly, although Labour had criticised the previous government for releasing prisoners early, there has been much media coverage of a reported new government proposal to release prisoners on “determinate” sentences between 40% and 43% of the way through those sentences. Prisoners serving sentences for sex offences, violence or terrorism would be excluded from the scheme, as would any offenders subject to Parole Board decisions about their release.  We understand the plan would replace the current 10-week early release scheme.

The manifesto also mentions a commitment to carry out a review of sentencing to ensure it is brought up to date.

 

Tackling violence against women and girls

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) has been a key government priority since the 2010 Conservative - Liberal Democrat Coalition Government published its strategy on this issue, paving the way for successive new policies and legislation. While we await formal proposals, Labour’s manifesto set out in some detail what the priorities of a Labour government would be.  

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Key priorities in the manifesto included:

• fast-tracking rape cases, with new specialist rape courts at every Crown Court centre;
• ensuring there is a specialist rape and sexual offences unit in every police force;
• introducing domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms, and ensuring there is a legal advocate in every police force area to offer advice through the legal process from initial report to trial;
• strengthening the use of Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) and giving women the right to know the identity of online stalkers;
• introducing a specific new offence of spiking;
• strengthening the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples and whistle-blowers in the workplace; and
• introducing stronger training on VAWG in the police, banning anyone with a history of violence against women and girls from the police, and introducing automatic suspensions if officers are investigated for domestic abuse and sexual offences.

We may potentially see some of these proposals within a Criminal Justice Bill put forward in the King’s Speech.

 

An enhanced fraud strategy

The Labour manifesto stated: “Fraud accounts for almost two in five crimes, but the Conservatives have failed to respond to the scale of the challenge. Labour will introduce a new expanded fraud strategy to tackle the full range of threats, including online, public sector and serious fraud. We will work with technology companies to stop their platforms being exploited by fraudsters.”

Labour has stated that it will launch an Enhanced Fraud strategy, but there is, as yet, no detailed policy to accompany this proposal. We can look however to earlier policy statements to get an indication of what we might expect.

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While there is limited policy detail in the manifesto itself, it is worth considering the report published by Emily Thornberry MP, then Shadow Attorney General, in September 2022. Turning the tide on Corporate Fraud set out the following key themes:

• giving the SFO a law it can enforce;
• taking a ‘convictions first’ approach to corporate fraud;
• simplifying disclosure rules in corporate fraud cases;
• stemming the loss of experienced SFO staff;
• restoring pride in the prosecution of corporate fraud; and
• reviewing options for resourcing the SFO.

This sheds some light on the potential focus of the new government when it comes to tackling financial crime.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) introduced the failure to prevent fraud offence (see related blog) which will inevitably be a focus for the SFO moving forward. Note however, that the offence will not come into force until at least six months after official Home Office guidance on preventative procedures is published.

ECCTA also extended the “identification principle” so that a corporate can now be held liable for the actions of its senior managers who commit economic crimes. The Criminal Justice Bill 2023-24 proposed a further expansion of corporate criminal liability to extend the senior manager model of the identification principle to all offences capable of being committed by a corporate body. This proposal fell away with the dissolution of Parliament at the end of May, and we await to see whether it will be re-introduced in a similar form.

 

The King’s Speech

This year’s King’s Speech will be one of the most significant of the decade. With the new Labour government taking power with such a big majority, it can force through any changes it wants to. It will be illuminating to see how the government chooses to prioritise the various ambitious proposals set out in its manifesto, and how and to what extent its plans are to be funded. Those decisions will have ramifications for many years to come.

If you are interested in reading more legal commentary about the impact of the new Labour Government, please see our new Hub.

Further information

If you have any questions or concerns about the topics raised in this blog, please contact Caroline Day, Alun Milford, David Sleight, or any member of our Criminal Litigation team.

 

About the authors

Caroline Day is an investigations specialist. She advises organisations and individuals caught up in serious and complex criminal and regulatory investigations. She has extensive experience in this area and conducts internal investigations on behalf of her corporate clients when allegations of misconduct arise.

Alun Milford specialises in serious or complex financial crime, proceeds of crime litigation and corporate investigations. He has particular knowledge and experience of issues surrounding corporate crime and deferred prosecution agreements. He joined Kingsley Napley from the public sector where, over a twenty-six year career as a government lawyer and public prosecutor, he worked in a wide variety of roles including General Counsel at the Serious Fraud Office, the Crown Prosecution Services’ Head of Organised Crime, its Head of Proceeds of Crime and Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office’s Head of Asset Forfeiture Division.

David Sleight is a highly sought-after criminal litigator specialising in complex, sensitive and high-profile cases. He is recognised for his strategic approach and ability to get results. David's practice includes specialisms in criminal defence and police investigations, as well as financial crime and tax investigations.