Criminal Law Reform Now Network

刑法改革现在网络为学者和其他法律专家在刑法改革合作项目中发挥主导作用开辟了一条新的灵活途径：提出专题;确定政策建议;团队编写报告;与改革机构合作推进建议。学术界和其他法律的专业人员一直在刑法改革中发挥着宝贵的作用，他们对现行法律提出批评，并就改革方案提出建议或提供咨询意见。然而，这类既定的作用/途径有很大的限制-它们可能只限于一小批咨询专家;它们可能受到咨询问题的限制;它们可能在改革项目的生命周期中只出现一次或两次;几乎在所有情况下，对咨询专家的起点和终点的界定都很狭窄。在不拒绝已建立的路由的情况下，CLRNN识别并促进替代方案。在此，提出了一个需要重点关注的领域，项目特定专家团队将在项目的整个生命周期中协同工作，制定改革建议，并将这些建议直接传达给目标改革机构。CLRNN采用循环结构，在其他项目结束时建立新项目。在公开征集和会议之后，选择了前两个项目：1）审查1990年计算机滥用法（CMA）：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，难怪这个27岁的法规需要关注。尽管作了一些修订，但这一专题的提议者强调了在立法中提出"公共利益"辩护的潜在必要性（可能的立法改革）、围绕"经授权"使用计算机的含义的诉讼（可能的立法改革）、对罪犯的不一致判决（可能的判决准则改革）以及其他一些具体问题。2)检讨私人检控制度：个人或私人团体（即与国家相对）提出刑事诉讼的可能性，在现行法律中扮演一个特殊的角色，而且没有经过系统或原则性的检讨。在这方面，建议者热衷于探讨终止私人检控的各种方法（例如透过皇家检控署的干预及法庭的做法）、警方参与调查、应用证据规则等。大家都同意，这方面的法律和做法并不一致，可能导致不公平的情况，因此有明确的范围可供提出改革建议：重点可能是立法，CPS和警察的做法，和法院的做法。CLRNN旨在释放个人研究人员的潜力，否则他们的改革想法可能不会获得更广泛的认可，并创建一个跨学科的论坛，与来自相关领域的专家（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将不会被束缚在一个单一的主题或机构，而是会考虑在整个刑法领域（例如，实质性，程序性，证据，判刑）的改革提案，只要能够证明明确的公众需求，我们可以建立一个具有相关专业知识的团队，我们清楚目标改革机构，我们相信有一个真实的前景创造积极的变化。 我们将创建一个周期性的自我维持网络，该网络将继续在我们最初的资金寿命之外的新主题上运作。CLRNN的成员将能够通过项目团队成员（当项目专注于他们的专业领域时），在研讨会上发表评估意见以及促进与项目影响相关的联系和联系做出贡献。

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.