Criminal Law Reform Now Network

现在刑法改革网络(CLRNN)为学者和其他法律专家开辟了一条新的、灵活的途径，使他们能够在协作的刑法改革项目中发挥带头作用：提出专题；确定政策建议；团队撰写报告；与改革机构合作落实建议。学者和其他法律专业人员在刑法改革方面一直发挥着宝贵的作用，他们既批评现行法律，又倡导或咨询改革方案。然而，这种既定的作用/路线有很大的限制--它们可能保留在一小群咨询的专家中；它们可能受到所咨询的问题的限制；它们在一个改革项目的生命周期中可能只出现一到两次；在几乎所有情况下，咨询的专家的起点和终点都是狭隘的。在不拒绝已建立的路由的情况下，CLRNN识别并促进替代。在这里，提出了一个需要重点关注的领域后，特定于项目的专家团队将在项目的整个生命周期内合作，创建改革建议，并将这些建议直接传达给目标改革机构。CLRNN运行着一个循环结构，在其他项目结束时建立新的项目。经过公开召集和会议，前两个项目已经选出：1)1990年《计算机滥用法》(CMA)回顾：当我们考虑到技术变革的速度，包括个人设备的使用和日益复杂的黑客威胁时，难怪这项已有27年历史的法规需要关注。尽管进行了一些修改，但这一专题的提出者强调了在立法中进行“公共利益”辩护的潜在需要(可能的立法改革)、围绕“授权”使用计算机的含义的诉讼(可能的立法改革)、对罪犯的量刑不一致(可能的量刑指南的改革)，以及其他一些确切的关切。2)审查自诉制度：个人或私人团体发起刑事诉讼(即相对于国家)的可能性在现行法律中发挥着特殊的作用，而且是在没有系统或原则性审查的情况下形成的。在这方面，提名人热衷于探讨终止私人起诉的各种方式(例如，通过CPS干预和法庭实践)、警方参与调查、证据规则的应用等。人们一致认为，这一领域的法律和实践不一致，可能导致不公平，因此有明显的改革建议余地：可能侧重于立法、CPS和警察实践以及法院实践。CLRNN旨在释放个人研究人员的潜力，他们的改革想法可能不会得到更广泛的认可，并创建一个跨学科论坛，与相关领域的专家(例如，包括学者、从业者、特殊利益集团成员等)一起测试这些想法。CLRNN不会被绑在一个单一的主题或机构上，而是会考虑研究整个刑法领域的改革建议(例如，实体、程序、证据、量刑)，只要能够证明明确的公共需求，我们就可以建立一个拥有相关专业知识的团队，我们清楚目标是什么改革机构，我们相信确实有创造积极变化的前景。我们将建立一个周期性的自给自足的网络，它将在我们最初提供资金后的很长一段时间内继续就新的主题开展业务。CLRNN的成员将能够通过项目小组成员身份(当项目侧重于其专业领域时)、研讨会上的评价性评论以及促进与项目影响相关的链接和联系来做出贡献。

The Criminal Law Reform Now Network (CLRNN) represents the creation of a new and flexible route for academics and other legal experts to take the lead in collaborative criminal law reform projects: proposing topics; defining policy recommendations; team-writing reports; and working with reform institutions to take recommendations forward. Academics and other legal professionals have always played a valuable role in reform of the criminal law, both through critique of the current law as well as advocating or consulting upon reform options. However, established roles/routes of this kind come with significant restrictions - they may be reserved within a small pool of consulted experts; they may be restricted by the questions consulted upon; they may arise only once or twice in a life of a reform project; and in almost all cases, the start and end point for the consulted expert is defined narrowly. Without rejecting established routes, the CLRNN identifies and facilitates an alternative. Here, having proposed an area in need of critical attention, project specific teams of experts will work collaboratively over the full life of a project, creating reform recommendations, and communicating these directly to target reform institutions.The CLRNN operates a cyclical structure, establishing new projects as others end. Following an open-call and meeting, the first two projects have been selected:1) Review of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA): When we consider the speed of technological change, including personal devise use and the increasingly sophisticated threat from hacking, it is little wonder that this 27 year old statute requires attention. Despite some amendment, proposers of this topic highlighted the potential need for a 'public interest' defence within the legislation (potential legislative reform), litigation surrounding the meaning of 'authorised' computer use (potential legislative reform), inconsistent sentencing of offenders (potential reform of sentencing guidelines), as well as a number of other precise concerns. 2) Review of the Private Prosecutions Regime: The potential for an individual or private group to instigate criminal proceedings (ie, as opposed to the state) operates a peculiar role within the current law, and has developed without systematic or principled review. Here, proposers were keen to explore the various ways private prosecutions are discontinued (eg, through CPS intervention and court practices), the involvement of police in investigation, the application of evidential rules, and so on. There is agreement that the law and practice in this area are inconsistent and can lead to unfairness, and so there is clear scope for reform recommendations: focusing potentially on legislation, CPS and Police practice, and court practice. The CLRNN aims to unlock the potential of individual researchers whose reform ideas may not otherwise gain wider recognition, as well as creating an inter-disciplinary forum for testing those ideas with experts from across the relevant area (eg, including academics, practitioners, members of special interest groups, and so on). The CLRNN will not be tied to a single topic or institution, but will rather consider working on reform proposals across the criminal law piste (eg, substantive, procedural, evidential, sentencing), as long as a clear public need can be demonstrated, we can build a team with the relevant expertise, we are clear about the reforming institution targeted, and we believe that there is a real prospect of creating positive change. We will create a cyclical self-sustaining Network that will continue to operate on new topics well beyond the life of our initial funding. Members of the CLRNN will be able to contribute through Project Team membership (when a project focuses in their area of expertise), evaluative comment at symposiums, as well as facilitating links and contacts relevant to project impacts.