Danny Shaw is a crime, justice and policing commentator and former adviser to Yvette Cooper.
14 min listen
Keir Starmer has succeeded in keeping immigration at the top of the news agenda for another day – although he may not be happy with the headlines. After his set-piece announcement yesterday, the Prime Minister is caught between fire from both sides. On the left, he is accused of ‘pandering’ to Nigel Farage and even
Migration, migration, migration. Sir Keir Starmer didn’t express it like that in his Downing Street press conference, but he might as well have done. ‘Significantly’ reducing immigration, which is what he pledged in front of the cameras, can now be added to ‘smashing the gangs’ as clear priorities on which Labour will be judged over the
Here we go again. For those who drew up the convoluted regulations around police misconduct, the decision to proceed with a disciplinary hearing against the policeman who shot dead the notorious gangster Chris Kaba makes perfect sense. For most people though, it’s utter madness. A trial at the Old Bailey, where footage of the incident was
The top mandarin at the Home Office gave the game away. At a somnolent session of the Commons home affairs committee, Sir Matthew Rycroft revealed that Labour had dropped a key pre-election pledge, made just 72 hours before polling day. Instead of moving all asylum seekers out of hotels ‘within 12 months’, as the party
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Labour have found themselves facing accusations of enabling ‘two tier policing’ following new guidelines from the Sentencing Council. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has been quick to criticise the government, but Labour’s Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has also urged the council reconsider their recommendations. Yvette Cooper’s former adviser Danny Shaw joins Katy Balls and James
Why did he do it? Over the last few weeks, many of us have asked that question following a series of horrifying acts of violence that have been difficult to comprehend. Why was 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose fatally stabbed at a school in Sheffield? Why did Axel Rudakubana slaughter three girls at a children’s dance class in
Picture the scene: the press conference room at New Scotland Yard in March 2023 – just after the publication of a damning report into the Metropolitan Police by Baroness Casey of Blackstock. Casey’s review, announced following the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer, had concluded that ‘predatory behaviour’ was
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At a press conference this morning, Keir Starmer moved quickly to announce a public inquiry into the Southport murders. This comes after Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to murdering three girls in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift–themed dance class last year. The Prime Minister promised that ‘no stone’ will be ‘left unturned’ when it
I met Andrew Malkinson, the victim of one of Britain’s gravest miscarriages of justice, on just one occasion. But he left quite an impression and I’ve been thinking about his case, especially since the belated resignation of Helen Pitcher, chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). The organisation, which investigates potential wrongful convictions, failed
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The grooming gangs scandal is back in the news this week after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips rejected calls for a government inquiry into historic child abuse in Oldham, prompting a conservative backlash. Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Justice Secretary, called it ‘shameful’; Liz Truss, the former Prime Minister, labelled Phillips’s title ‘a perversion of the English
One morning last week, in the early hours, I received a puzzling text from my bank. ‘Did you use your debit card at 01.23 at Tenorshare.com?’ it said. I’d never heard of Tenorshare before – it’s a smartphone support service apparently – and had certainly never knowingly made any payments to them. But someone had attempted to,
Just like London buses, you wait ages for a criminal justice review – and then three come along at once. First came the announcement of a sentencing review, led by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke. Then there was a homicide review, to be conducted by the Law Commission. Now there will be a review of
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Labour are planning to publish a 10-year plan to get on the front foot when it comes to the prisons crisis. Shifting from the previous government’s preference to run the system hot to a policy of early release and carving out more places, the headline figure is that there will be 14,000 more prison places
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The government has announced a review into how to properly police non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs). This follows the experience of Allison Pearson who, on Remembrance Day morning, was doorstepped by Essex Police demanding an interview about a long-forgotten tweet. Reports of NCHIs have dramatically increased in the last year, with 13,200 recorded in the 12
What is the point of a short prison sentence? David Gauke will no doubt think carefully about that question now that he’s been confirmed as the chair of the long-awaited Sentencing Review. Launched by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), it aims to provide ideas for a new framework of sentencing across England and Wales that
There are few moments more serious than when the state takes the life of a citizen, when a police officer kills someone in the line of duty. Such an event demands an independent and rigorous investigation in which the officer accounts for his or her actions. The family and friends of the person who has
If you started again with a clean slate, a blank sheet of paper, you would never design a system of policing like this. It’s a system – in England and Wales – where there are 43 ‘territorial’ forces. No matter how big or small, each force has its own leadership structure, specialist units and support functions, such as
The ‘border tsar’ isn’t the official title for Martin Hewitt. The former police chief has been appointed to the new role of ‘Border Security Commander’, but it won’t be long before he ascends to tsardom, given the hype around the job. The Border Security Command, which Hewitt will lead, was a key part of Labour’s
I met Anthony by the gates of Thameside prison in south-east London. A skinny, gaunt-looking man in his 40s, he’d spent much of his adult life in and out of jail for offences linked to his mental health problems and addiction to drugs. His latest spell inside had lasted eight months. He was hugely relieved
The announcement from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is couched in bureaucratic language, but there is no disguising it. ‘Process activated to manage prisoner movements’, said the headline on the department’s website, making it sound like a few minor procedural rules have been adjusted to help the transfer of inmates. In fact, the ‘process’ is
