Liberty join campaign against the CJB
UK Human Rights lobby group Liberty
has joined its name to the growing list of
opponents to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill 2007 and has raised
concerns about the plans to criminalise the possesion of pornography.
In an initial briefing on the Bill, Liberty called on the new UK government to
drop the CJB.
Liberty described the massive Bill as "a last-ditch effort to dictate
the future business for the new Cabinet" by Tony Blair and John Reid.
It called on the new Prime Minister, new Home Secretary and new Justice Minister
not to plough on with this huge laundry list of unfinished business.
"We hope that the new Cabinet stops to think whether it really wants to
continue the old trends of endless new laws on immigration and criminal justice,
more and more new criminal offences and broader and broader police powers,"
Liberty said.
While it said there are a number of welcome proposals, it said these were
"too often drowned out by the meaningless political rhetoric of "Simple,
Speedy, Summary Justice" and "Rebalancing the Criminal Justice System in Favour
of the Law Abiding Majority".
Liberty has accused the Labour Government of losing sight of the basic values
underlying our criminal justice system: the presumption of innocence and the
right to a fair trial before an independent court.
As for plans to criminalise the possession of pornography, Liberty said it had
serious concerns which it would raise during the
Committee Stage.
Liberty said it "would want to assess whether
(i) there is a sound
justification for extending the criminal law by creating the proposed new
offence (including by assessing whether offences already exist)
(ii) whether the proposed offence is certain enough, allowing citizens
to clearly understand what is and is not a criminal offence) and
(iii) ensuring that the offence does not go further than is
justified."
Liberty's position is given in detail in two briefing documents, one for the
second reading of the Bill covering the extreme pornography clauses from page 16, and one for the
committee stage covering extreme pornography from page 15.
Gareth Crossman. Liberty's Director of Policy, appeared to answer the Committee's
questions on the 18th October, transcript here.
We at backlash already argue that no new law is neccessary, that the plans
criminalise too many otherwise respectable, law abiding citizens without any
likely benefit to society and unfairly stigmatises a number of sexualities.
We welcome Liberty's decision to question the need for a law which would
criminalise people for looking at pictures of consenting adults where no-one
was harmed.
What can you do ?
For more details of the legislation and opposition to it read this brief.
If you would like to contribute in any way to opposing this legislation,
contact us.
If you are a journalist or a researcher and would like to cover all sides of the
debate, see previous coverage in the media and
contact us.
To make a donation, click here.
They call it "Smarter Justice"
The Government says the Criminal Justice Bill will "create new powers to tackle anti-social and violent behaviour and a new offence to deal with violent pornography"
Prime Minister conflicted
.... there are areas in which the State, or the
community, no longer has a role or, if it does have
one, it is a role that is completely different. It is
not for the State to tell people that they cannot
choose a different lifestyle, for example in issues to
do with sexuality.
Tony Blair 5th Sept 2006
QC's conclusion "real concerns"
"In conclusion, I consider that the legislation as proposed gives rise to real concerns as to its compatibility with an individual's rights under Articles 8 and 10 of the Convention."