Scrapping European law

Published: Nov. 1, 2022, 4:30 p.m.

b"

The government is currently committed to a bonfire of laws which were inherited from the EU after Brexit - including things like the right to four weeks' paid annual leave. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022 requires government departments to check over 2400 laws; then decide which ones to keep, which ones to amend, and which ones to let disappear from the statute books. Those chosen to be kept or amended will have to get through parliament by the end of next year, if they are to remain in force. A useful cleansing of the statute books, or a loss of consumer, worker and environmental rights?

Why does Northern Ireland\\u2019s Justice Minister want to raise the age of criminal responsibility? It's currently set at the age of ten, the same as that of England and Wales, although not Scotland. This is very low by international standards.

Are young adult defendants being unfairly pressurised into pleading guilty? The campaigning organisation Fair Trials says that 18-24-year olds sometimes get as little as 30 minutes to make a potentially life-changing decision. There is an incentive of getting a third off a prison sentence for pleading guilty at the first opportunity - Fair Trails say young defendants can fail to realise the long-term consequences of making such a plea.

Can podcasts help bring about justice or do they run the risk of prejudicing trials? We hear about the Australian true crime podcast \\u2018The Teacher\\u2019s Pet\\u2019, which has now helped solve a murder from 1982. The victim\\u2019s husband was convicted and is about to be sentenced.

Presenter: Joshua Rozenberg \\nProducer: Arlene Gregorius \\nResearcher: Diane Richardson \\nSound engineer: Graham Puddifoot \\nProduction Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross\\nEditor: Simon Watts

"