Priorities for the new UK Government: Fixing the criminal justice system

A new government has been in power in Westminster since July. In our Policy & Practice miniseries, Priorities for the new UK Government, we will explore key issues on which the Government is—or ought to be—focusing its attention. The criminal justice system in England and Wales is on the brink of collapse. What are the specific problems? Why has it declined to its current state? And what should be done to fix it? In this event, jointly hosted by UCL Political Science and the Criminal Law Centre in the UCL Faculty of Laws, our expert panel will discuss these questions and more.

Lord Ken Macdonald KC is a barrister at Matrix Chambers and crossbench peer. He formerly served as the Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales between 2003 and 2008. MacDonald was the first prominent defence lawyer to be appointed to the post. He chairs the Orwell Foundation and is President of the Howard League for Penal Reform. He was also previously the Chair of Reprieve, an anti-death penalty organisation, and the Warden of Wadham College, Oxford.

Dame Vera Baird KC, former Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Solicitor General and Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria, is currently Visiting Professor in Practice at the Mannheim Centre for Criminology at LSE, Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College Oxford, writer, lecturer and Parliamentary Consultant. She is a criminal barrister and was MP for Redcar between from 2001–2010. Most recently she led the inquiry into the Greater Manchester Police’s treatment of women and girls. She is currently writing a book about the treatment and role of the victims of crime in the criminal justice system and our society at large.

Penelope Gibbs is the Director of Transform Justice, a national charity which works for a more humane, open and effective justice system in England and Wales. Gibbs also serves as Chair of the National Appropriate Adult Network, which supports organisations providing AAs in police custody. She previously worked in the media sector before setting up the Voluntary Action Media Unit at TimeBank, a volunteering charity, and joining the Pr*son Reform Trust to run Out of Trouble—a campaign to reduce child and youth imprisonment.

David Shipley is a penal reform campaigner and justice researcher. As an ex-inmate, he writes and speaks out against a Pr*son system which he calls “neglectful, cruel and ... designed to maximise reoffending”. His work can be found in the Spectator, Inside Time and the i paper. David is also pursuing a PhD in the experiences of children with a parent in Pr*son at Southampton University.

Chair: Prof. David Ormerod CBE is Chair in Criminal Law, UCL Faculty of Laws. He is in part time practice as a barrister and a Bencher of the Middle Temple. Between 2010–2019 he was the Criminal Law Commissioner for England and Wales.

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