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The Law Show

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Conversation about the laws making headlines, and the laws that shape everyday life.

The Law Show is your guide to the law and the legal decisions that have a bearing on everyone in the UK.

Weekly conversation that will give you an in-depth understanding of the law stories making news and the legal decisions that could have a bearing on everyone in the UK. Whether it's unpicking a landmark legal ruling, explaining how laws are made or seeking clarity for you on a legal issue, The Law Show will be your guide.

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The Law Show: Fighting knife crime

Fighting knife crime

BBC Radio 4 - The Law Show, Fighting knife crime

Fighting knife crime before it happens; Scotland's "not proven" verdicts; automated cars.

Fighting knife crime before it happens;  does Scotland's "not proven" verdict let rapists go free? And who is liable in automated vehicle accidents? With Joshua Rozenberg.

Fighting knife crime before it happens; Scotland's "not proven" verdicts; and the law on automated cars. 

Knife crime in England and Wales is at its highest in ten years. Some young people can find it hard to resist gangs or knives for what they see as self-protection. Often they end up in the criminal justice system. Some argue the law is not the answer. But what is the alternative? We hear from a youth worker at the successful youth centre Youth Futures, and from a retired senior criminal barrister, who has launched an online one-stop-shop, fightingknifecrime.london, for those seeking or offering help to keep young people out of trouble. 

In Scotland, juries can find defendants guilty, not guilty or not proven. If guilt is "not proven", the defendant is acquitted and regarded as innocent in law. Should that third option be abolished? Juries often use "not proven" in rape cases, if they feel guilt has not been proven 'beyond reasonable doubt' (the requirement for a guilty verdict) but nor do they want to imply they disbelieved the alleged victim. Now some campaigners want to abolish the "not proven" option, as research has shown that if it didn't exist, more juries would find the accused guilty, even in rape cases.

The government has announced that cars will be allowed to steer themselves in slow-moving motorway traffic, so long as they had been approved for use with automated lane-keeping systems. But what does the law say about liability for automated vehicles? Who is responsible if there is an accident? Is it the driver or the car manufacturer? What changes are being introduced by this year's Automated and Electric Vehicles Act and the planned changes to the Highway Code? 

Presenter: Joshua Rozenberg
Producer: Arlene Gregorius 
Researcher: Diane Richardson

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