Latest news with #judicialsystem
The Independent
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Independent
‘Stop demonizing us': Judges beg White House to dial down ‘irresponsible rhetoric' over fears of political violence
A group of federal judges has pleaded with U.S. leaders to cool off with attacks on members of the judicial system, following a rise in the number and severity of intimidation and death threats. In a judicial forum hosted by the group Speak Up for Justice, several judges spoke about their personal experiences of receiving hatred and harassment and urged those at the top to stop using 'irresponsible rhetoric.' It comes after President Donald Trump 's consistent attacks on the legal system, which have intensified since returning to office. The president has claimed the justice system has been 'weaponized' against him and blamed the Democrats for using what he calls 'lawfare.' Recently Trump and his allies have lashed out against judges including James Boasberg who had blocked the administration's efforts to deport Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Monday that her office had filed a misconduct complaint against Boasberg. Though Trump was not mentioned specifically by name, attacks were being led from the 'top down' by White House spokespeople, according to Esther Salas, a District Court judge in New Jersey. Salas noted that state-level judges, as well as federal judges, were now being targeted. 'The fix check is so easy in some ways, right, because what we need is our political leaders from the top down to stop fanning these flames, to stop using irresponsible rhetoric, to stop referring to judges as corrupt and biased and monsters that hate America. We need our leaders to lead responsibly,' Salas said at the virtual forum on Thursday. 'Stop demonizing us, stop villainizing us, because what they're doing when they do that irresponsible rhetoric is they are inviting people to do us harm… because our leaders are calling us idiots and deranged, and monsters.' Salas gave an emotional address to the forum, noting that this month had marked the fifth anniversary of her son Daniel's death. The 20-year-old was killed while celebrating his birthday in 2020 shooting by a gunman who had intended to kill his mother. 'So we just need civility,' Salas said. 'If you're a leader in this country. Lead responsibly. That's all we're asking.' She also thanked the other judges, on behalf of her son and family, for speaking out about their experiences. 'I know it wasn't something you wanted to do,' she said. Paul R. Kiesel, who moderated Thursday's forum, added that such attacks from higher-ups was 'unprecedented.' 'This has never happened before… this isn't just another cycle of criticism,' he said. 'This is unprecedented. We're coming out here today because this has never happened in this country before.' The Independent has contacted the White House for comment. In a statement shared with Politico a White House spokesperson said: 'Attacks against public officials, including judges, have no place in our society and President Trump knows all too well the impact of callous attacks having faced two assassination attempts.'
The Independent
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Judicial system needs ‘shake-up' after trader convictions, says Sir David Davis
Conservative MP Sir David Davis has said the judicial system 'needs a shake-up' after describing the convictions of two former financial market traders as a 'major scandal'. Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo were found guilty over benchmark interest rate rigging in 2015 and 2019 respectively, but had their convictions quashed at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The former UBS trader and the ex-vice president of euro rates at Barclays bank were said to have manipulated the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor). Speaking at a press conference following the Supreme Court judgment, Sir David described the two men as 'scapegoats for the sins that led to the financial crisis'. He said: 'The implications are far-reaching and of course have been devastating for those caught up in it. 'There were several other people convicted of rate rigging, dozens of others who were either prosecuted, acquitted or not prosecuted. Their lives were upended too. 'This scapegoating exercise happened as a result of collusion between the banks and government agencies, including the SFO (Serious Fraud Office) and FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and we're not done with that. 'This scandal also highlights the need for urgent reform within our justice system on a range of issues – the handling of expert witnesses right through to the rigidity of the appeals system.' In an 82-page judgment, with which Supreme Court president Lord Reed, Lords Hodge and Lloyd-Jones and Lady Simler agreed, Lord Leggatt said judges' misdirection to the juries had led to the men's wrongful convictions. He said: 'The history of these two cases raises concerns about the effectiveness of the criminal appeal system in England and Wales in confronting legal error.' Sir David said the Supreme Court justices 'did not unpack' why the appeal system fell into error in these cases. He said: 'I think the judicial system needs a shake-up, and this is the latest demonstrator of it, and we will be returning to it in the future.' Mr Hayes said he believes the trials of the two men became caught up in the politics of the financial crisis, adding that there was a 'big desire from institutions and politicians, acting in their own interest largely', for traders to go to prison. Asked about his thoughts on what role juries play in cases like his and Mr Palombo's, he said it was a 'dangerous idea' for complicated fraud and financial cases to be heard only by a judge. The former trader added: 'The jury is the last defensive barrier that every citizen in this country has between them and a wrongful conviction. 'And are juries perfect? No, they're not. Do they make mistakes? Yes, they do. And you know, it's the best of a whole load of options, none of which is perfect.' Ben Rose, part of Mr Palombo's legal team, said Wednesday's Supreme Court judgment is 'likely to offer a route' by which others who have been convicted in similar circumstances 'can right the wrong that has been done to them'. He also said there was a 'fundamental error' in the way the case was prosecuted and that the role of the jury was 'overridden and usurped' by the judges. The lawyer added: 'That should not happen in a country that abides by the rule of law.'
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Judicial system needs ‘shake-up' after trader convictions, says Sir David Davis
Conservative MP Sir David Davis has said the judicial system 'needs a shake-up' after describing the convictions of two former financial market traders as a 'major scandal'. Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo were found guilty over benchmark interest rate rigging in 2015 and 2019 respectively, but had their convictions quashed at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The former UBS trader and the ex-vice president of euro rates at Barclays bank were said to have manipulated the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor). Speaking at a press conference following the Supreme Court judgment, Sir David described the two men as 'scapegoats for the sins that led to the financial crisis'. He said: 'The implications are far-reaching and of course have been devastating for those caught up in it. 'There were several other people convicted of rate rigging, dozens of others who were either prosecuted, acquitted or not prosecuted. Their lives were upended too. 'This scapegoating exercise happened as a result of collusion between the banks and government agencies, including the SFO (Serious Fraud Office) and FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and we're not done with that. 'This scandal also highlights the need for urgent reform within our justice system on a range of issues – the handling of expert witnesses right through to the rigidity of the appeals system.' In an 82-page judgment, with which Supreme Court president Lord Reed, Lords Hodge and Lloyd-Jones and Lady Simler agreed, Lord Leggatt said judges' misdirection to the juries had led to the men's wrongful convictions. He said: 'The history of these two cases raises concerns about the effectiveness of the criminal appeal system in England and Wales in confronting legal error.' Sir David said the Supreme Court justices 'did not unpack' why the appeal system fell into error in these cases. He said: 'I think the judicial system needs a shake-up, and this is the latest demonstrator of it, and we will be returning to it in the future.' Mr Hayes said he believes the trials of the two men became caught up in the politics of the financial crisis, adding that there was a 'big desire from institutions and politicians, acting in their own interest largely', for traders to go to prison. Asked about his thoughts on what role juries play in cases like his and Mr Palombo's, he said it was a 'dangerous idea' for complicated fraud and financial cases to be heard only by a judge. The former trader added: 'The jury is the last defensive barrier that every citizen in this country has between them and a wrongful conviction. 'And are juries perfect? No, they're not. Do they make mistakes? Yes, they do. And you know, it's the best of a whole load of options, none of which is perfect.' Ben Rose, part of Mr Palombo's legal team, said Wednesday's Supreme Court judgment is 'likely to offer a route' by which others who have been convicted in similar circumstances 'can right the wrong that has been done to them'. He also said there was a 'fundamental error' in the way the case was prosecuted and that the role of the jury was 'overridden and usurped' by the judges. The lawyer added: 'That should not happen in a country that abides by the rule of law.'
The Independent
13-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
It's beyond time to end the scandal of IPP
It comes to something when a senior member of a recent government – the former justice secretary, no less – describes actions by the state that were part of his remit as 'overbearing, unfair and almost totalitarian'. Yet this is how Alex Chalk KC, who held that office for 14 months in the government of Rishi Sunak, describes imprisonment for public protection (IPP) orders – which can keep someone in prison indefinitely after conviction for a relatively minor crime. Ousted from government by his party's defeat at the last election, and also from his parliamentary seat, Mr Chalk has returned to his legal practice. It is from this perch that he is now asking his successor, Shabana Mahmood, to consider new proposals – from the Howard League and a former lord chief justice, Lord Thomas – with a view to righting this now longstanding wrong. At The Independent, we make no apology for returning once again to the iniquity of IPP orders that go against so much of what should constitute any civilised judicial system. Two features stand out. There is the glaring disproportionality in so many cases between the crime and the punishment, with some prisoners having served almost 20 years (and still counting) for offences such as robbing someone of their mobile phone or laptop. This is not, by the way, to diminish such crimes, but to point up the disparity between the standard tariff for such a conviction and the actual time served by many of those still subject to IPP orders. The other feature is the cruelty of imposing a sentence that has no end, which has been described by the UN as psychological torture. With no prospect of a release date, more than 90 such prisoners have taken their own lives. Altogether, more than 2,500 are still languishing in jail on IPPs. This is in spite of these indefinite prison terms having been abolished in 2012, just seven years after they were introduced. The clear mistake then was not to have made the abolition retrospective. It applied only to new convictions, not to those already in jail, leaving the glaring injustice that one day could make a difference between someone left to serve what could become a lifetime sentence and someone convicted of a similar crime with a clear idea of the timetable for release or parole. The failure to make abolition of IPP orders retrospective has had consequences of its own. At least some of those still not released are now so damaged by their experience and will be so hard to rehabilitate that they could indeed present a danger to society if they were released. This is the very opposite of what a penal system should set out to achieve and amounts, in Mr Chalk's words, to nothing less than a failure on the part of the state. At which point, there is an obvious and not unreasonable question for the former justice secretary to answer. If the injustices and perverse effects of IPP orders were so apparent when he came to office – as they were – why did he not do something about it? Why did he not condemn the policy in the same terms as he is doing now and make the changes he is demanding be made by his successor? Part of his answer is that he did do something. He reduced from 10 to three the number of years that a released IPP prisoner was on licence and so subject to recall. That is not nothing, but it was nothing like enough. Two small pleas might also be made on his behalf in mitigation. As he says, there was 'not a single vote' in even the change in the licence period that he made, because of the general lack of public sympathy for prisoners. As he does not say – but is a sentiment with which the current government could well concur – a year can be too short a time in UK politics when it comes to getting anything done. The ponderous nature of the legislative process can be a minus as well as a plus. On the other hand, the size of the Labour government's majority and the years it still has to run mean it has time on its side. After more than a decade of political foot-dragging around IPP orders, however, there is no time to lose. The proposals from the Howard League and Lord Thomas show how this could be done, and offer sufficient safeguards for the public in terms of conditions for those who may be released and a new drive to rehabilitate those still considered a danger to society. At a time when other prisoners are being released ahead of schedule to free up scarce cell space, and the Exchequer needs every penny of saving it can get, it makes no sense at all to keep IPP prisoners inside any longer than the public's safety requires. As Alex Chalk says of the one reform he did make, this may not win a single vote, but it would be the right thing to do. Indeed it is – and the sooner it is done, the better.
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
'Heartbroken' Zara McDermott fights back tears hearing harrowing account of woman's stalking at hands of her ex in new BBC documentary
A 'heartbroken' Zara McDermott fought back tears when she heard the harrowing account of a woman's stalking at the hands of her ex in a new documentary. The first episode of the former Love Island star's latest project, To Catch A Stalker, airs on BBC Three on Tuesday evening at 9pm. It sees Zara, 28, join and support victims who have been subjected to domestic abuse and stalking and expose how stalking brutally impacts the everyday lives of people across the UK. She will also follow the journey of those who decided to report the instances to the police and how the claims make their way through the judicial system. Both instalments are already available to stream on BBC iPlayer and are packed with sobering accounts. The second episode sees Zara sit down with an anonymous woman who recounted how her ex-partner stalked her after she ended the relationship. The first episode of the former Love Island star's latest project, To Catch A Stalker, airs on BBC Three on Tuesday evening at 9pm It will see Zara, 28, join and support victims who have been subjected to domestic abuse and stalking and expose how stalking brutally impacts the everyday lives of people across the UK She recalled how at the start he was 'very charming, caring, I didn't even imagine there was another side to him'. However, he would make her video call him '24 hours a day, every day, morning until night'. When the woman ended the relationship things took a terrifying turn. 'The continuous harassment, being outside of my house every other day, he would cry his eyes out and make me feel bad,' she recalled. Zara asked: 'Was he calling you and texting you?' 'He would call me more than 500 times a day and I would literally chuck my phone in some corner of my house,' the woman replied. She appeared to get emotional as she described how 'he made me hate myself for being in that situation'. The woman gestured a line across her neck with her hands as she recalled what he would do outside of her house, seeming to infer he was saying he would harm her. 'He didn't leave outside of my house for another five, six hours. I was terrified,' she added. Zara commented: 'That breaks my heart, hearing that.' 'He didn't leave outside of my house for another five, six hours. I was terrified,' she added. Zara commented: 'That breaks my heart, hearing that.' The woman submitted video, calls and text messages to the police and revealed she would be giving a witness statement at court against him. Zara asked the woman, 'How are you feeling through this?' 'Like I'm rubbish,' she replied, as Zara held her hand. The reality star looked tearful as she continued to listen to the woman and said: 'You did not deserve any of that, you know that?' Zara has brought a range of thought-provoking and critically acclaimed documentaries to the BBC over the last few years. The star has spoken about several important topics including revenge porn, sexism, and 'rape culture' in UK schools as well as the rise of young people experiencing eating disorders. But, after wrapping up filming for the stalking documentary in March, Zara admitted it had been one of her 'most emotional' yet, as she praised the brave women who appeared in the programme and voiced her hope that it would open up conversations. Sharing Instagram snaps of herself filming outside a police station, she wrote: 'It's our final week of filming for my documentary about stalking, and honestly it's been one of the most eye opening, emotional films I've ever made. 'I've learnt so much about the strength of victims / survivors through this process… some of these women are the strongest I've ever met. 'Stalking is one of the most isolating crimes out there. The pure determination of the women I've spoken to, to continually put one foot in front of the other every single day, is nothing short of inspirational.' She went on: 'I am so grateful to do the job that I do; to be able to hopefully make a difference in this world and make some positive change alongside the incredible people I am working with. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 'This documentary series has been 18 months in the making, from development to where we are now. It's been a long process of finding a careful balance because of the sensitivity of this programme, but I hope it opens up conversations at home, in schools and in society. ❤️' To Catch A Stalker airs on BBC Three on July 1 at 9pm and is available to stream on iPlayer.
