The Crime and Courts Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on 10th May 2012.
Part 1 of the Bill sets up a National Crime Agency which is intended to replace the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the National Police Improvement Agency.
Part 2 proposes reform of the courts system: in particular the creation of a family court; reforms to the judicial appointments process; and relaxation of the law relating to filming and sound recording in court. Part 2 also grants powers to the Secretary of State concerning provision for non-custodial sentences.
Part 3 deals with a range of immigration and criminal justice issues - curtailing immigration appeal rights and extending the powers of immigration officers. Part 3 also includes the creation of a new offence of driving while under the influence of drugs.
Schedule 19 of the Bill provides for two changes to the Extradition Act. First, it sets out a new forum bar which proposes to allow judges to bar extradition in circumstances where all or a substantial part of the alleged criminal conduct has taken place in this jurisdiction.
Liberty has campaigned for this safeguard to be inserted into our Extradition Act for many years, yet the forum bar proposed by the Government in this Bill fails to provide any real protection against unfair extradition.
We accordingly urge MPs to vote in favour of the alternative extradition amendments which would go further to provide a sufficient safeguard and which have received cross-party support.
Secondly, the Bill proposes to remove the Home Secretary’s obligation to consider the human rights of a person subject to extradition before making the order after the judicial process has been exhausted. This is an important power which we believe must remain vested in the Home Secretary; it is this function which recently stopped the extradition of Gary McKinnon.