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24 March 2023 / David Walbank KC
Issue: 8018 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Criminal , Human rights
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Crime brief: 24 March 2023

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David Walbank KC examines the relevance of gender identity within the context of extradition requests
  • Law and politics.
  • Transgender women in the prison estate.
  • Society’s changing mores.

The borderlands between law and politics are endlessly fought over. The front lines are constantly shifting. Similar dilemmas can have very different outcomes, depending on whether battle is joined in a court of law, or in the rather more fickle court of public opinion.

This phenomenon is strikingly illustrated by the controversy which, in the view of many, elevated some embarrassing polling data into a full-scale resignation issue for the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon. If nothing else, it seems to prove that in politics, as in life, timing is everything. Having found herself on arguably the wrong side of the debate about the incarceration of transgender women in women’s prisons, the hitherto untouchable leader of the Scottish National Party would doubtless look with a quizzical eye on the recent decision of the Administrative Court in Prusianu v Braila Court of Law [2022] EWHC 1929 (Admin).

The background

Nicoletta

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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