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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: Secrecy in the Court of Protection?

25/10/2022

Secrecy in the Court of Protection?

BBC Radio 4 - The Law Show, Secrecy in the Court of Protection?

Why some court hearings are secret. Is most UK chicken illegal? And indefinite sentences.

Why are some court hearings kept secret from one of the parties? Is most of the UK's chicken being bred illegally? And reviewing indefinite 'imprisonment for public protection'.

How can a court decide that a young woman is to have medical treatment without her knowledge or that of her mother or guardian? The Court of Protection - which rules on cases involving 'protected' persons who lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves - sometimes holds 'closed hearings' that are secret to one or more of the parties, and to the public.  Why are those hearings used, and can it ever be justified for the secrecy to lead to public misinformation? 

The law now treats animals very differently than in the past. A new book describes how in medieval Europe, they could even be prosecuted - in one case, a pig was actually sentenced to death for the murder of a child. 

But nowadays cases involving animals focus on their welfare. A campaigning organisation has been granted a court hearing to examine if the breeding of Britain’s fast-growing broiler chickens is detrimental to their health and welfare, and therefore in breach of the law.  

Nearly 3000 prisoners are continuing to serve more than their original sentence - sometimes over a decade more - because they are subject to “Imprisonment for Public Protection”.  Some have never been released, others have been recalled to prison, even though IPP sentences were abolished in 2012.  The Justice Select Committee has now called on the Government to review these sentences, with the aim of release for most. Members of the House of Lords agree, saying this form of detention is unjust. 

Presenter: Joshua Rozenberg 
Producer: Arlene Gregorius 
Researcher: Diane Richardson 
Production coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross 
Editor: Simon Watts

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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