Dear IRR News subscriber, The iniquities of the criminal justice and immigration systems are examined in detail this week, from deaths in custody to the ‘fast-tracking’ of asylum seekers. Jenny Bourne looks at the recent not guilty verdict in the trial of ex-police officer Anthony Long for the murder of Azelle Rodney, the first prosecution
Joint enterprise in action
Below we reproduce an article written by trainee barrister, Josh Radcliffe, on a recent joint enterprise trial observed at Birmingham Crown Court. To the casual visitor to Birmingham’s court twelve on any given day between early January and the end of April 2015, the importance of the proceedings taking place would likely be lost. First appearances
Eat together, fight together, remember together
Solidarity also means remembering. A few weekends ago, I attended an ‘Eat Together, Fight Together’[1] picnic at Burgess Park in south London organised by the London Campaign Against Police and State Violence and Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth. Campaigners and activists enjoyed the sun, good food and conversation in a gathering not fraught with political imperatives
Public order broadcasting: ‘The Met’ and the press
A critical analysis of the BBC’s ‘fly-on-the-wall’ documentary about the Metropolitan police. In what has been billed as an unprecedented move, in early 2014 Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe allowed a BBC camera crew an access-all-areas pass to film the force as it carried out its routine policing of London. In a commentary for
Spinning the assault on Julian Cole
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the IPCC consulted with a police force under its investigation during the construction of its media releases. On 6 May 2013, Julian Cole, a 21-year-old black man, was left with a broken neck after being detained and arrested by Bedfordshire police outside a nightclub. Cole’s
Calendar of racism and resistance (3 – 16 July 2015)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Violence and harassment 2 July: The Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) publishes a report documenting a 23.5 per cent rise in Islamophobic attacks after the killings of the Charlie Hebdo staff and hostages in a Jewish grocery
Racist violence: important conviction and updates
In the last few weeks a number of important cases involving racially-motivated violence have been before the courts. Dr Sarandev Bhambra On 25 June, in a few hours, Zack Davies was found guilty by a jury of the attempted murder of 24-year-old dentist Dr Sarandev Bhambra in Mold in Wales in January 2015. Davies had
Crowdfunding a challenge to joint enterprise
JENGbA has launched an important crowdfunding appeal for a case at the Supreme Court. Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association (JENGbA) is hoping to raise at least £10,000 for analytical work to be carried out by their lawyers, the human rights and criminal solicitors ITN, and barristers at Doughty Street. The Supreme Court has been
Detained Fast Track: how to reform structural injustice?
Asylum rights campaigners and human rights lawyers are celebrating the suspension of the detained fast track – and gearing up to resume battle over a ‘reformed’ version. On 2 July, immigration minister James Brokenshire announced the suspension of fast-track detention of asylum seekers. In a historic victory for asylum rights campaigners, he acknowledged the ‘significant’
Self defence or a licence to kill?
When we look at the figures of young African Americans shot dead, some might comfort themselves with the mantra ‘thank goodness our police forces, unlike those of the US, are not routinely armed’. But look at our record of BAME killings when they are armed. In just the last few years, Azelle Rodney was shot