How I Defend Killers and Still Sleep at Night
As a defence lawyer I am often asked how I cope with representing those defendants charged with the most serious crimes, in particular rapes and murders. Much of my work is with defendants facing the death penalty in Florida, so they are alleged to have committed the most heinous of murders.
For me, the answer is simple, I believe that everyone is entitled to a fair trial and that involves legal representation by a person committed to their case. In all my cases, it is not my role to judge the guilt or innocence of my client, that is for the magistrates or jury. My role is to review the evidence and to advise my client on the evidence as it stands. I will often advise a client that based on the evidence, I consider that a jury will find them guilty, however the decision remains theirs as to whether they plead guilty or take the case to trial. They have a right to a trial, even if the evidence is stacked up against them, and I can quote many high profile cases where the media portrayal of the evidence was such that it was assumed that the defendant would be found guilty, yet the jury found otherwise.
I believe very strongly that a client should have the right over their own destiny, and if they want to take their case to trial, even with the odds stacked against them, that is their decision. Who am I to dictate to them how they should behave, if I have advised them of the consequences as I see them, it is up to the client to decide how to deal with those consequences.
Nowadays I choose to act solely for the defence, however in the past I have prosecuted and defended, and as such I am fully aware that not all my clients are innocent, and that in many cases there is a victim involved. The impact of the crime on the victim should not be ignored. I know of some lawyers who will always try to justify their client’s offending, and will try to vilify the victim. That is not a practice I admire. For one, the fact that there is a victim means that as well as the defendant, there is at least one other person whose life has been affected by the crime (and I put in this manner as it is rare for false accusations to be made in court, so there has usually been a crime committed, what is questionable is whether my client committed the offence). Secondly, to ignore the impact on the victim means that the feelings and empathy of the jury is also being ignored, and this is dangerous, a lack of understanding of the jury means that a defendant may not be receiving the best advice on how the evidence against him or her is going to be perceived by the jury.
I can sleep at night as I know I give my clients the best representation that I can, and I hope that this results in them receiving a fair trial if they decide to plead not guilty, or a fair sentencing hearing if they decide to plead guilty. I am not perfect and they may be cases where I have misjudged the impact of evidence, or miscalculated a jury, however I always fight for my client no matter who they are or their alleged offense. If that means I earn some bad publicity on the way, due to the offences charged, then so be it, this is the profession I have chosen, and I consider myself to be fortunate to be able to do a job I love.
Football Banning Order spiraling out of control – from drinking in sight of the pitch to a 5 month prison sentence!
The news reports of the football fan who has just received a 5 month prison sentence for breaching his football banning order, makes it an opportune time to remind fans how acceptance of a football banning order, in the belief that it is a civil order, can result in a criminal conviction and prison sentence.
While I don’t have first hand knowledge of this case, and will leave you to draw your own conclusions from the news article below, the circumstances are similar to those that play out in magistrates and crown courts all over England and Wales during every football season. A Football Banning Order can be requested by the police against a fan who they police deem to be causing or likely to cause disorder at football matches. This is a civil order, and many fans will accept the order without challenge due to the fact it is civil and they are under the impression that they cannot challenge it in court. That impression is incorrect, although it is a civil order, the consequences of breaching it are criminal and as such it can be challenged from the first stage.
A civil order can be imposed on a fan by the Magistrates Court for between 3 and 5 years. If the fan breaches that order (and a breach can be as simple as entering a town on a saturday where the fan’s team are playing) then the fan can face a prison sentence. If it is a Home game, this often means that a fan, subject to a football banning order, who takes his or her family into town on a Saturday can be arrested. The breach then becomes a criminal case and this can result in prison.
The fan may consider that the alleged incident in or outside of the football ground which resulted in the football banning order was a minor incident. They may also consider that taking their family into town on a Saturday is a minor incident and as such they will be able to talk their way out of it with the Police or the Magistrates Court. This is a big mistake. The Football Banning Order is a court order and the courts take the breach of one of their orders very seriously. So the simple facts of the case will not excuse the fan, the fact they have breached a court order will mean that they will likely be sentenced to a criminal sanction which can include imprisonment. And hence the minor incident has a life changing effect on the fan, a criminal record, and possibly a period at Her Majesty’s Pleasure!
The key to all of this is not to immediately accept the order, or panic when a summons arrives on the doorstep or is handed over by a police officer. It is best to seek legal advice at the earliest opportunity, and most lawyers specializing in football banning orders will provide their initial advice for free. But even if things have started to spiral out of control, and a criminal conviction for breaching an order is looming, seek advice. Not only the future of attending football matches, but also of work and liberty may depend on whether advice is sought.
5 month prison sentence all started with drinking in sight of the pitch at a football match
Dazzled by Science – The Dangers of Lie Detectors
About this time last year I sat in a conference room in a hotel in New York surrounded by lawyers, homicide and vice cops, and journalists, while an academic demonstrated the wonders of a new lie detector test he was developing – the use of MRI scans to test a person’s truthfulness. In essence, he was showing us images of the brain and explaining that when the subjects lied, certain parts of their brain glowed red on the scan and that this could be transferred to the use of MRI scans in the criminal justice system, if a person responded to a question and a certain section of their brian glowed red on the screen then they were lying.
As I looked around the room I was amazed at how easily all these delegates who, by nature of their professions should have been overly inquisitive and skeptical, were lapping up this information. When I raised my hand and asked if anyone else was feeling as uncomfortable as I with these findings, based on tests with those who were not people under criminal investigation, I was greeted with a looks of distain. With the exception of a homicide cop, no one else in the room seemed to have a problem with the suggestion that this was the ‘future’ of interviewing defendants.
While I accept that I am not scientifically minded and as such can be skeptical of a lot of scientific findings, my main issues with this new lie detector model were that the testing was done on students, in a controlled environment, who had volunteered to take part in the research, they were all at least college level educated, and had been given a script, and had then been told whether they had to lie or tell the truth from the script. There had been no testing of defendants of low intelligence, placed in the extremely stressful environment of a police interview room, who were sleep deprived, had recently taken illicit or prescribed drugs. Neither had there been any testing of defendants who had good reason to lie to protect themselves or others, and who knew that they were in danger of facing a lengthy prison sentence.
Even worse, the fact that all of these people, who should have known better than just to accept findings without questioning them, had collectively accepted the findings, made me realize that a jury would be unlikely to question any of the findings. If the scan showed a brain glowing red, the subject would have lied, and hence the jury would have no reason not to find them guilty.
And that is the reason that the lie detector must be viewed with skepticism, it is rarely tested in the exact environment. I have spoken to many defendants in the USA who have been the subject of a lie detector, many felt scared of the physical element of the test, having wires attached to a cuff on their arm and chest. The demeanor of the person carrying out the test has a big impact on many defendants, some felt that they were being encouraged to answer in a certain way by the machine operator. The format of the questions can have a big impact on the answers given by the defendant. Finally the analysis requires someone to make an assessment of the findings, I have experience of the same defendant answering the same questions in three different tests and each assessor came up with a different conclusion.
In theory, the tests that have been carried out on sex offenders may have produced some results which can be seen as positive, but can they actually also be determined as truthful? And if the lie detector is introduced in this area, how long will it be before it is introduced into the criminal justice system in other areas. Beware the dazzling effect of the mumbo jumbo…..
Foreign National Prisoners – the Forgotten/Ignored Prison Population
Yesterday, I spent the day hearing about the problems faced by Foreign National Prisoners (FNPs) and the advice workers who support them. The main problems which came across quite clearly are that the prisoners have no one to take on their legal complaints, most of which are the result of State action or inaction.
It must be remembered that most FNP’s are not asylum seekers, most are serving a prison sentence and would like to return home at the end of their term. For example, the Foreign National Prisoners who have confiscation order proceedings running against them. In many cases, these proceedings have been running for over 2 years. The FNPs have served their sentence and wish to return to their home country but can’t do so as the State won’t agree to their release due to the pending confiscation proceedings. There is no Legal Aid available to support these FNPs, and therefore they have to languish in jail until the State can get its act together on the confiscation applications.
The 20 year old criminal defendants who found that they were sentenced to 12 months or more in custody, but their co-defendants who were equally culpable received lesser custody. They wish to appeal against their sentence, but can’t find a criminal lawyer prepared to take on their appeal due to the fact that any reduction in sentence will only be a month or so. The reality is that this month can be the difference between deportation for not for these FNP. The criminal lawyers don’t appreciate the deportation rules in relation to FNPs.
The FNP who had a piece of family jewelry taken from him when he was detained in the police station. He subsequently requested its return, and was told that it had been auctioned as that police authority only kept a person’s property for a year. The police authority had written to the FNP at the address he had given when arrested, but since that date he had been detained either on remand or as a serving prisoner. He wishes to bring an action against the police, but is unable to do so from inside his prison cell and without legal aid, or any money to pay a solicitor.
The male charged with false document offenses who told his lawyer that he was being forced to travel into the country to work in a food takeaway, and had been handed the documents just before they arrived at the port and told to show them. His family had been threatened and he felt he had no option but to travel to the UK and undertake the work. The police and his lawyer determined that he was a smuggled person and not a victim of human trafficking because ‘human trafficking victims come in on the back of a lorry’. He is detained in prison, awaiting deportation, desperately worried that his family are being punished, and his traffickers remain at large, released by the police due to lack of evidence..
There are numerous young detainees who have realised for the first time, while in prison, that they may be subject to deportation. All stated that they were not advised by their lawyer that there was a risk of deportation, and many don’t actually realise that they are Foreign Nationals as they have been in the UK for as long as they can remember.
While the prisoner advice agencies are able to help with the day to day enquiries for these FNP and in many cases provide a lifeline, they are unable to take on the FNP’s legal complaints. Without the possibility of legal aid, they rely on the pro bono assistance of lawyers, but only if the lawyers understand the problems faced by the FNP and the consequences of their serving a custodial sentence will they be able to provide any meaningful assistance. In the meantime the FNP’s, whilst remaining a political issue for the Home Secretary, for most of the population they are the forgotten ones.
Law Gazette Opinion – Criminal Justice System Failing Asylum Seekers
Does it look like someone has tried to scratch their way out of the door in a brothel? Chances are the person you have had sex with is a human trafficking victim
Following on from my previous blog about human trafficking victims no longer found handcuffed to a bed in a brothel, which concentrated many on labour trafficking, it is now time to dispel some of the myths about sex trafficking.
Recent reports of police raids of brothels, and convictions of individuals for trafficking young girls and forcing them to work in the brothels, sex trafficking has again received an increased media profile. However, these cases highlighted in the news are only the tip of the iceberg, and the sad reality is that most victims are not found until it is too late.
The US State Department report released last week makes it clear that the detection, prosecution and conviction rates for sex and labour trafficking are woefully low. This is not a country or region based problem, globally the war on human trafficking is not being won. One of the main problems is that human trafficking is a vast organized crime, which preys on those who are the most vulnerable or disadvantaged. By it’s very nature the majority of sex trafficked victims are kept below the radar as in many countries brothels and prostitution are illegal.
Although there are many specialised law enforcement units working throughout the UK to identify sex traffickers and their victims, without the assistance of the public and neighborhood law enforcement, it is questionable whether the battle against sex trafficking in the UK can ever be won.
The Police Service Northern Ireland have recently launched an initiative to educate those people who use the brothels. It is not unusual for a client of a brothel to question whether the person (woman, man, boy or girl) servicing them is doing so voluntarily. In many cases, a client will have been asked by the person servicing them to call the police or to help them. However, there are very few clients who have then made contact with the police or tried to help. The excuse “I didn’t want to get involved” is one which comes up time and time again. In reality, all that it would have taken to assist that victim is an anonymous phone call to the police. While it is accepted that campaigns aimed at educating clients about the possibility that they are having sex with a human trafficking victim will not prevent these clients from using the brothels, it may help to raise awareness of the small things that they can do to help. A phone call to the police or a Human trafficking support group to report a door that looks as though someone has tried to scratch their way out, or a girl who is covered in burn marks or bruises, may be the difference between life and death for that girl.
The biggest stumbling block for law enforcement is that most of the brothels which house the trafficking victims are not in mainstream places, and are not known as brothels. A house in the middle of a housing estate, or a van driving up and down a motorway is the modern day brothel. All it takes is an advert in the back of a newspaper, or on the internet, and the clients will come flooding in. Many clients find the thrill of tracking down the van in the service station, or entering the house through the back door at midnight to be as much of a thrill as the sex they will then purchase when they are inside. This is where raising public awareness makes all the difference. A neighbour who notices that there are visitors to a house all day and night, and who calls their local neighborhood police officer, or local authority anti-social behaviour officer may ultimately be reporting on a sex trafficking ring without even knowing it.
The time has come to educate the public into looking for the signs of sex trafficking, the neighbour, the security guard at the service station, the local neighborhood police officer who regularly speaks to the local prostitutes or their clients, all of these have a vital role in the fight against sex trafficking.
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The State has locked them up in a 6ft cell and thrown away the key. Juveniles and Solitary Confinement in Florida.
With the current interest both in the USA and Europe in the practice of keeping inmates in solitary confinement, I thought I would share some of the thoughts and issues raised by some of the juveniles in Florida who have been sentenced to life without parole and who have spent time in solitary confinement.
Over the last two years I have worked with young men, who were all sentenced to Life Without Parole for non-homicide offenses they committed as juveniles. Most pleaded guilty to the offenses, thinking that they would get a plea deal, and all ended up with the maximum sentence the court court give. While the offenses for which they were sentenced should not be diminished, in at least two of the cases it is questionable whether the young men were actually responsible for the offenses. However, in these cases, both confessed, and their appeals against conviction have been heard and dismissed, so that avenue of argument is no longer open to them. What is open to them is the right to ask the court for another sentencing hearing due to the fact the US Supreme Court in Florida vs. Graham ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life without the possibility of their sentence being reviewed to take into account their maturity.
One of the young men has to be one of the most difficult clients I have dealt with in my 20+ years of working in the criminal justice system. He frustrates me beyond belief, but every time I am at the end of my patience with him, I pick up the report prepared for his appeal against his sentence, which details the first 15 dysfunctional years of his life, and then his time in jail and prison, including extended periods of time in solitary (in some years he spent 10 or 11 months in solitary, only to spend a few weeks in general population, and then be sent straight back to solitary due to his behavior towards other inmates or corrections officers). I have calculated that of his total 12 years incarcerated, he has spent 8 of those in solitary confinement. The State gave up on him 12 years ago, locked him in a 6ft cell and threw away the key, I will not allow myself to so the same.
In all of the cases I have dealt with the offenses have been serious – rapes, armed robberies, and attempted murders. All the juveniles were treated as adults by the courts and therefore were detained in adult jails prior to conviction. All were experiencing jail for the first time and were held in solitary confinement during their time in jail. This was justified as providing protection to the juveniles, however in reality it was the start of a regime which dehumanized them. With 24 hour a day lock up for most days, these juveniles who were still in the process of developing and maturing were denied any contact with anyone other than the corrections officer who escorted them to the exercise yard two or three times a week, or less if it was raining. Even their exercise was taken in isolation, hence no chance to play basketball or bond with others experiencing the jail system for the first time. Peer contact which is so important to an adolescent’s development was denied, and even visits from family and friends did not provide the support and nurturing and reassurance required by most adolescents, due to the glass separating them from their visitor.
The recurring comments which came from these juveniles was that they gave up at this stage, they no longer had any interest in their case, or what their lawyers were telling them. They just wanted the isolation to stop. They wanted to get out of the tiny cell, painted grey, without windows, and where they were totally cut off from the outside World. Two of these juveniles attempted suicide in their early years in jail.
The fact that cases can take years to come to trial in Florida added to the despair of these inmates. The idea of having to spend the next four or five years in these conditions was a strong factor in some of them deciding to plead guilty. One inmate stated “if I pled guilty I knew I would go to prison and into general pop[ulation]’. Hence a motivating factor in these plea decisions was not whether they were guilty or innocent, but that they would be able to associate with others if they pleaded guilty.
For the majority of these inmates, home life and the family bond had not been very strong prior to them being incarcerated, and could possibly be argued as one of the reasons they had ended up being charged with these offenses in the first place. The longer the inmates languished in jail, the less they received visits from their family and friends. It is a recurring problem for the juveniles facing Life Without Parole, that those on the inside are cut off by those on the outside who want to get on with their lives, and give up hope of the inmate ever being released. In fact, with the exception of one of the inmates I have met, the only family contact is a birthday and christmas card and the occasional $30 added to the inmate’s commissary account.
While many of the juveniles had minor mental health problems when they first entered the jail system, mainly due to drug abuse, they did not exhibit serious mental health problems. However, by the time they were sentenced, over half had been assessed as having poor cognitive reasoning and exhibiting anti-social behavior, all of which was deemed to be a factor in justifying sentencing a juvenile aged 13 to spent the rest of their life in prison with no opportunity of a parole review. Never was it considered by the court that the reason the juvenile was exhibiting this behavior was due to the State incarceration. The State had given up on these juveniles, they were described by the Prosecutors as ‘bad’ or ‘untreatable’ or ‘damaged beyond repair’. Even worse, in most cases the defense lawyer did not stand up for their client and say that the State’s solitary confinement was the problem. If the lawyers had also given up on these juveniles, who else was going to care.
Florida vs. Graham was decided in May 2010. By this time, most of the juveniles sentenced to Life Without Parole had become adults. The task when trying to persuade the courts to reduce the sentence of these inmates is to show the courts that they are no longer dangerous and can be released back into society. That is not an easy task when the State has managed to dehumanize these young men, has made then anti-social. How can a young man who has experienced sustained periods of solitary confinement in prison, with nothing more than one hour of recreational time once every forty days, be expected to fit back into society and live and mix around his peers?
Psychiatric evaluations of these inmates now all indicate that they exhibit psychiatric problems – no wonder considering the way they have been treated and the lack of diagnosis and medication they receive in prison. These psychiatric problems provide the Prosecution with the justification for arguing that the inmate should remain in prison. The US Supreme court decision was that a Life Without Parole sentence for juveniles is unconstitutional, it did not say that a 70 or 80 year sentence is unconstitutional, not did it say that consecutive sentences were unconstitutional. Hence the fear that in some of these cases a Life Without Parole sentence will be replaced with two 40 year sentences, to be served consecutively.
During one visit with a prison inmate, he described to me the fact that since he had heard about his appeal, he had worked hard on his behavior and had requested that he be moved out of the highest level of confinement (CMI), to the second level (there are three levels of confinement in Florida state prisons). He was so pleased with himself as he was moved to the 2nd confinement level (CMII) and this meant he could go to the tv room f our times a week, and was allowed a two hour visit each time. He had not seen the tv for the previous two years due to being in CMI, where only a radio was allowed, and where he was only allowed 3 books a week and no commissary items other than stamps and writing paper. Sadly, a few days after my visit, he had an argument with another inmate, who he said stole his potato chips, and ended up back in CMI, where he remains to this day.
While the actions of the Senators in their review are encouraging, it does nothing for the forgotten incarcerated youth, who have entered adulthood as a prison number, with no one but themselves for company, in a space where they can stand in the middle of the room and touch the walls both sides, and where daylight is something rarely seen, and when they do see it, they can do little more than shuffle into it as they are shackled hands and feet.
Click here for the Florida Statute on Close Confinement/Solitary Confinement and the restrictions it places on the inmate ☞ Close%20Management%20Statute
NY Times Article 20 June 2012 Senators Review Solitary Confinement
Human trafficking victims – no longer just found handcuffed to a bed in a brothel..
The common misconception is that a victim of human trafficking will be identifiable as they will either be found in the back of a lorry entering a UK port, or tied to a bed in a brothel.
While there are still many cases such as those described, the traffickers have become much more sophisticated and are prepared to go to much greater lengths to ensure that their victims ‘blend in’ and are not so easily identifiable as victims. Labour trafficking is much more prevalent around the World than sex trafficking, although sex trafficking reflects the majority of media reporting as it is much more headline grabbing. Whether it is labour or sex trafficking, it is all slavery….. And in order to combat it effectively, all first responders need to be able to identify a victim when they meet one or hear about one.
Examples of recent trafficking victims identified include:
- teenagers working on cannabis farms, males working on farms in East Anglia;
- young women being forced to attend the benefits office and claim benefits for themselves and their family;
- young girls picked up from homeless shelters and then forced into prostitution and made to ‘work’ inside a van which travels around the Midlands;
- males forced to sleep in a tent in the middle of winter and pick cockles;
- women working as housekeepers in hotels and guesthouses.
While many of the trafficking victims come from Eastern Europe and East Asia, the pattern is clear, it is not the nationality that makes a person a victim of trafficking it is the fact they are either forced or coerced into work – they are being exploited. While some trafficking victims may want to be rescued as they are being treated despicably and in many cases are being abused and tortured. Others may be quite happy with the work they are undertaking. It is these people in particular who do not consider themselves to be victims of trafficking. A victim who works 60 hours a week, and receives only a roof over his head, food, alcohol and cigarettes in return may not consider himself to be a victim, and in many cases may be very resentful of the person or organization which takes away this way of life – hence the reason many people who are identified during a police raid as trafficking victims may not want the stigma of the ‘victim’ title and may refuse to work with the police or the other organisations which assist such victims.
Hence, identifying a trafficking victim is often not an easy task, they may be afraid of the authorities, will probably have been told not to talk to the police or anyone official looking for fear of being arrested and imprisoned. They may consider (and in many cases, quite rightly so) that their family will be in danger if they speak to the authorities. They may have total distrust of the authorities, having previously made a compliant which was not believed (due to the fact they were not chained to a bed in a brothel!), or may not want to lose their bed, albeit it often nothing more than a shed or tent, it may be all they have and want to cling on to.
The trafficking gangs use many ways to keep tabs on their chattels (victims), ranging from a tattoo on their arm, shaving of their eyebrows, and making them wear certain clothes. In many cases the victims will be allowed out in the public arena, so as not to cause too much suspicion of people locked in a house, but there may be an enforcer close by, keeping an eye on the victims, or alternatively the enforcers may have taken something from the victim (such as their child) to ensure their return. In extreme case, the victim will form a bond with their trafficker or enforcer – this is reported in many young girls who have been sex trafficked, and will refuse to accept that the enforcer is doing anything wrong, and may even recruit other young people into the brothel for the enforcers.
In summary, identifying victims of human trafficking is not an easy task. Those most likely to come not contact with the victims are not the specialised law enforcement or Government funded units. While these units investigate incidents of human trafficking, it is the first responders who usually have the first contact with a human trafficking victims and it is these first responders who need to be able to identify a trafficking victim. For example, paramedics, midwives and A&E staff, neighborhood police officers, local council housing officers and enforcement officers. It is estimated there are many victims of trafficking in prison, too afraid to say why they were working on the cannabis farm, or why they were in possession of a false passport or driving license. Prison officers and counsellors may be the first people that a trafficking victim is able to talk to in safety. Criminal lawyers and police station representatives are likely to have come across a victim without recognising them as a victim, such as the woman who is advised to plead guilty to running a brothel, but who was actually trafficked into the UK at the age of 13 and forced to work in the brothel, and who then formed a bond with her trafficker and recruited other girls, as it was the only way she could get out of being sold for sex.
Unless these First Responders are able to make these identifications, the specialist human trafficking teams are able to do nothing more than touch the surface with regard to identifying human trafficking rings and putting an end to this modern day slavery.
Are you a First Responder? Come to a free 2 hour training session 15/1/14 Euston, 11-1pm on identifying and assisting human trafficking victims. The course is run jointly by Migrant Help and 1 Grays Inn Square Chambers and funded by a charitable grant.
To Book: contact gurdena@btinternet.com or via 1 Grays Inn Square chambers 0207 405 0001
More Concern that Criminal Lawyers may be failing migrants by providing poor advice says CCRC
More Concern that Criminal Lawyers may be failing migrants by providing poor advice
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/hundreds-miscarriage-justice-claims-over-legal-advice-failings
“If I had known I had a defense to not being in possession of a passport, I would not have pleaded guilty”
Due to the complexities involved, and the fact the clients are often reluctant to assist their lawyers, immigration offences prosecuted by the CPS are an area which falls outside of the general knowledge of many criminal law practitioners. It is essential that anyone advising those suspected of immigration offenses are aware of the law. From police station representatives to those providing representation in court, a lack of knowledge of this complex area is resulting in some clients pleading guilty or being found guilty of offenses for which they have a defense.
In interviews with inmates at the prisons housing foreign nationals, the common comment is that they were not aware that a conviction could mean they were likely to be deported at the end of their sentence.
In the USA, a failure to advise a foreign national client of the possibility of being deported if they plead guilty to an offence is regularly classed as Ineffective Counsel, and has been the result of many successful appeals. While it is not suggested that the Ineffective Counsel arguments are adopted in the courts in England and Wales, a better awareness of the offences and defences available is essential if the clients are going to be effectively represented.
- The detainee without a passport may have been a victim of human trafficking.
- The youth in the YOI may mistakenly have believed that as he has leave to remain he would not be deported at the end of his sentence for his involvement in the Riots
Take the first step to identifying the immigration offences and the defences available – come along to a free training session “Identifying Victims”, where Migrant Help Prison advisors will explain their role in assisting inmates facing deportation.
Alison Gurden of 1 Grays Inn Square chambers will talk about identifying victims, including the indicators of a human trafficking victim and how they differ from a person who has been smuggled into the UK.
Click here for the course schedule and the subject areas covered ☞ identifying clients as victims schedule
Free Training (2CPD applied for) : but places are limited – RSVP to gurdena@btinternet.com or agurden@1gis.co.uk
- 5th July 2012, Hotel Russell, Russell Sq, London WC1B 5BE (Russell Sq Underground). 6-8pm. Introduction by David Malone, Head of Chambers 1 Grays Inn Square Chambers.
- 12th July 2012, Canterbuy Christchurch University, Broadstairs campus. 3.30-5.50. Introduction by Bob Underwood, retired Police Officer and tutor of Policing Studies.
Open to anyone involved in the Criminal Justice System – e.g. police station reps, lawyers, law students, magistrates, judges, advice agencies, police officers, probation officers, prison officers.
Watching Football on TV Can Still Get You a Football Banning Order!
Just three days into Euro 2012, and Sussex Police have already obtained a banning order for 3 years against someone in England, and Avon and Somerset Police have sent out warnings that they will be applying for banning orders against those who they believe are acting in a disorderly manner in a public place and who have been watching the Euro 2012 matches on tv.
‘Crackdown on Football Yobs and Hooligans’ is a common phrase coming from the Police during Euro 2012. In many cases, these so called ‘yobs’ or ‘hooligans’ have not been convicted of a crime, nor have they even attended a football match, but are the subject of a Football Banning Order purely because the police do not like their behaviour. With the Euro 2012 Championships underway, now is the time to be reminded of the long term effects and restrictions that a Football Banning Order can have on an individual.
During the 2008 Euro Championships and 2010 World Cup, a number of football fans were given banning orders after being convicted of minor public order offences, after drinking and watching a football match earlier in the evening in a town centre pub. In an extreme case, a fight outside a take-away involving two men wearing England shirts was labelled as football related and both were banned when the fight was actually over a girlfriend, and neither of them had even watched the Match!
Many Local Authorities are placing warning advertisements that alcohol related disorder in a public place, during or after watching a Euro 2012 football match may result in an application for a Football Banning Order.
The Football Banning Order itself is not a criminal conviction – however its impact can be more severe on a person’s life than a criminal conviction.
- The Order usually restricts a person from attending football matches for three years, but can go much further, such as preventing them from entering a town centre for three hours either side of a football match being played in the area, or even a local team match being shown on television in a town centre pub.
- For the whole Euro 2012 tournament, the 3500 people in England and Wales who are subject to a Football Banning Order have to surrender their passport to the police, and are forbidden from travelling overseas, even if they were intending to travel for a family holiday and not to Poland or the Ukraine.
- A banning order will show up on a potential employer’s Criminal Records Bureau check, and some companies dismiss an employee who receives a ban.
How can a Football Banning Order be avoided? The best way is to ensure that you are not involved in any kind of disorder in public which can be argued to be football related. However, if you do end up with a summons from the police, or in court on a criminal charge, don’t panic.
If the application is following a criminal conviction, obtain legal representation for the criminal charges, but make sure it is from someone who knows their stuff on football banning orders. If the application is to be made via summons, the police will send a summons to your home, followed shortly afterwards by a letter threatening costs up to £5000 if you decide to oppose the application. The reality is that, even if the police are successful in obtaining a Football Banning Order the costs are usually much less. The long term cost to you by accepting the Football Banning Order may be much more than £5000, especially if it results in dismissal from employment or prevents you from getting a job.
The best course of action is to contact the Football Supporters Federation http://www.fsf.org.uk or a lawyer specialising in Football Banning Orders and seek advice. The earlier you seek advice, the better. Do not contact the police to discuss the situation, even with the best intentions, you may provide them with information the police can use against you at any future hearing.
Have an enjoyable Euro 2012 without it being memorable for the wrong reasons.
Free Training Session – Are You Identifying Your Clients as Victims? 5th July 2012 – London. & 12 July 2012 – Canterbury Christchurch University
“If only I had identified them as victims of trafficking, I might have been able to do more to help them” – Neighbourhood PCSO, Kent.
In our daily lives we come across victims without even knowing it. Are you able to identify if the person who comes to you as a client, detainee, inmate, service user is also a victim? Are you aware that they may be entitled to additional protection due to their possible victim status? Are you able to identify the signs of human trafficking, domestic abuse, rape, bullying/victimization at work?
- Have you recognized that your client in the Youth Court may be subject to deportation if they plead guilty, even if they have leave to remain in the UK?
- Can you understand why your homeless client has been living in the country for the past year rent free, but can no longer go back to their accommodation – perhaps they were a labour trafficked victim and the house that was provided to them by the traffickers has been raided by the Police – don’t expect them to tell you they were trafficked.
- Are you able to identify that the defendant was a victim of male rape, and since that time his life has spiralled out of control as he lives in a drug induced haze?
This training session not only provides information on the indicators but also covers the fact that you will find victims outside of your usual line of work e.g a trafficking victim with an employment or housing complaint, a rape victim committing acts of violence in prison.
Come along to this training course to find out more about the tell tale signs, the benefits that are available, and the charitable organizations which can help, and hear the experiences of others during the discussion time.
Who Should Attend? Anyone Who Has An Interest in Learning More or Wants to Share their Experiences. This course is aimed at all those who may come in contact with potential victims, members of the legal profession, law enforcement, advice agencies, police station and prison visitors, health professionals, probation officers, prison officers, magistrates and judges.
- Click here to see the training session schedule ☞identifying clients as victims schedule 5th and 12th July 2012
Due to demand there are 2 sessions, London 5th July 2012, and Kent 12th July 2012.
Speakers:
- Alison Gurden, Barrister (Door Tenant 1 Grays Inn Square Chambers) = Specialising in criminal justice issues http://www.alisongurden.com & www.1gis.co.uk
- Migrant Help Prison Advice Workers = assisting prisoners facing deportation, in prisons throughout the South East of England.
5th July 2012 Facilitator: David Malone – Head of Chambers, 1 Grays Inn Square Chambers.
12th July 2012 Facilitator: Bob Underwood – Retired Police Officer, Lecturer in Crime and Policing Studies, Canterbury Christchurch University, Kent.
5th July 2012 Venue: Hotel Russell, Russell Square, London, WC1B 5BE (Russell Sq Underground) Time: 6-8pm
12th July 2012 Venue: Canterbury Christchurch University, Broadstairs Campus, Northwood Road, Broadstairs, Kent CT10 2WA http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/AboutUs/Findus/Broadstairs.aspx Time: 3.30-5.30pm
Registration: Free, but places are limited.
RSVP: gurdena@btinternet.com or agurden@1gis.co.uk
2 CPD points applied for.
alisongurden 