Previous: Work & Social Justice
Firstly, we must properly fund the justice system to ensure equal recourse to the law; there must be enough court time for all cases to be properly heard.
And we must also direct our energies to guaranteeing that recourse to the law is fully equal; as such, we must legislate to make legal aid a universal right once again.
We must also seek to right historic injustices, as discussed elsewhere. One route to that is the evaluation of the classist and frequently ableist (and racist) “ASBO” system, still largely in effect despite some window dressing changes by recent Governments.
We will also order a case-by-case judicial review of “imprisonment for public protection” (IPP) inmates.
Perhaps most crucially, we want to radically reform justice & policing in the UK, and are developing further policy in this area over time. We won’t be rushed on this facet of our platform, though, as we understand how vital getting this right is to every community in Britain. But in short: we want a public health approach to crime.
This is why we believe sex work must be decriminalised: in the interest of the health of sex workers’, and out of respect for their own understanding of their own work, because sex work is work.
We are also carefully considering decriminalisation of the possession and consumption of all currently illicit drugs (while planning to ensure provision of social services to support those negatively impacted by the consumption of those drugs) & will be making a final decision by inviting stakeholders, experts, and the general public into consultation via our direct participatory democracy.
We will set the age of criminal responsibility in England to be 16 years of age. It is currently far too low, and we find it lamentable and regrettable that so many young lives are thrown away on the altar of Crime And Punishment.
We will also be reducing the length of copyright to 50 years.