About the workshop
The UK Government’s Transforming Justice agenda builds on a huge amount of work aimed at achieving better collaborative arrangements between the various agencies in the justice sector. Police, prosecutors, courts, probation and prison services in the UK now work together in ways unimaginable in the past. How has better co-ordination been achieved without undermining each organisation’s specific mission? How can judicial independence and the protection of citizens’ rights be preserved alongside closer collaboration between these different justice sector institutions? What will be the impact of new ways of working, such as virtual and remote hearings?
In particular, the workshop will ask:
• Are there key principles that must remain, no matter what the current situation?
• Are there aspects of previous approaches which can and should be adapted to meet changing circumstances?
• Are there new ways of working that can and should be adopted by the justice sector?
• Are there tasks, processes and even roles that should now be abandoned and at what cost would this be?
What the workshop will cover
The workshop will look at the role of the courts, prisons and probation services. It will explore practical strategies for improving collaborative working in the criminal justice system and the difficulties overcome, those still remaining and those just emerging.
The workshop will:
• Examine how change occurs in the criminal justice sector and how citizens and politicians react to these changes
• Review progress to date in making the criminal justice sector work together more effectively
• Explore lessons from situations where barriers to effective partnership working have been overcome
• Analyse how the police do their job and ways in which society holds them accountable
• Discuss the challenges of juvenile crime and making arrangements to ensure justice for the most vulnerable in society
• Examine how performance in courts can be enhanced and delays reduced
• Look at approaches to handling offenders in custody and in society.
How participants will benefit
The workshop will:
• Familiarise you with the responsibilities of the various agencies in the criminal justice system of England and Wales and how these are held accountable for their work
• Consider special arrangements made for the most vulnerable and the most dangerous in society
• Discuss the arrangements made to handle appeals and resolve potential miscarriages of justice
• Enable you to understand the possible barriers to information sharing and joint decision making and examine the strategies for overcoming such barriers
• Help you to identify practical ways of initiating sustainable change to enhance multi-agency working.