Monthly Archives: July 2014

Whistleblowers May Be Given Amnesty in Child Sex Abuse Inquiry – But Are They Playing The System?

Researching Reform

Amnesty of any kind is always going to involve a trade-off between getting to the truth of the matter and letting people go, but what happens when the very people who step forward to whistle blow are the very people we need to protect our children from?

This was the thought that crossed my mind when I read this article about a Conservative party activist who says he willfully provided child prostitutes to Tory cabinet ministers during Thatcher’s term in government. 

Anthony Gilberthorpe says that he was asked to find underage boys for some of the most senior cabinet ministers of the time, so that they could be ‘entertained’, at specially organised parties where these boys would be plied with alcohol and cocaine and then engaged in intercourse with the ministers present.

Lethargy to come forward and speak out, especially when you’re a new face in the work place is…

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Bar Council’s Damning Survey on The Impact of LASPO

Researching Reform

Yesterday the Bar Council released its preliminary findings on the impact of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012.

The Press Release tells us that 716 people responded to the survey, of which 90% were barristers from a wide range of legal sectors. Not surprisingly, the family courts dominated the survey:

  •  88% of respondents who worked within the family courts reported an increase in self-representation.
  •  81% of respondents who undertook family legal aid work reported impacts
  • 72% of respondents who undertook family legal aid work reported a decrease in case work.
  • 69% of respondents who worked as family legal aid practitioners reported a decline in fee income

(These figures have been rounded up by the Bar Council in their press release).

Chairman of the Bar, Nicholas Lavender QC (fragrant name), summed up his view of the findings in his statement, which included the sentiment that:

“Unsurprisingly, the…

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The Buzz

Researching Reform

Sadly, today’s Buzz is all around child sexual abuse, and the horrendous part our government continues to play in either engaging in it or trying to bury it under Westminster’s fraying carpets.

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