Category: Civil liberties

Government, the police and intelligence services are too easily given sweeping powers that they too often abuse

Jenny works with campaigners to defend our civil liberties

Read on for her latest posts on this topic

Crime and Policing Bill Cmttee Stage Day 3

Published on by jonesjb

This Bill creates two new offences in Clause 56: child criminal exploitation and cuckooing. These are important steps. They recognise forms of exploitation that front-line workers, police officers and charities have been grappling with for years. However, the Bill currently does only half the job. It recognises the exploitation, but not the victim. When vulnerable children or exploited adults are used as tools by criminal networks, the criminal justice system should not compound their suffering by treating them as willing participants. These amendments I have tabled would complete the logic of the Bill and ensure that the law protects those who need protection most. Continue reading “Crime and Policing Bill Cmttee Stage Day 3” →

Sentencing Bill Second Reading

Published on by jonesjb

This is obviously a Bill with good aims: to reduce the prison population and put more resources into probation and rehabilitation. However, the problem is that the prison population is going up in the long term because Governments keep coming up with new reasons to lock people up. Continue reading “Sentencing Bill Second Reading” →

Crime and Policing Bill Committee Stage Day 1

Published on by jonesjb

Amendment 55A would require the Home Office to publish quarterly data on the issuing of anti-social behaviour orders and related injunctions. Specifically, it would ensure that these reports include the number of occasions when stop and search has been used by the police prior to the issuing of such orders, and the protected characteristics of those who have been issued with them. These powers can have serious and lasting consequences for those subject to them, particularly young people and those from marginalised communities. Yet at present, the public and Parliament have very limited visibility of how these tools are being applied. This would ensure transparency and accountability about how anti-social behaviour powers are being used across England and Wales. Continue reading “Crime and Policing Bill Committee Stage Day 1” →

A hostile environment for home education

Published on by jonesjb

My speech to the House on day 9 of committee stage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill:

I declare an interest as a grandmother of three home-educated children. My experience tells me that school is not suitable for all children. Not all children can find a suitable school and you do not need to be wealthy to create a very rich educational learning environment out of school. Continue reading “A hostile environment for home education” →

Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025

Published on by jonesjb

Baroness Jenny Jones speech on her Regret Motion:

“There are many reasons why proscribing Palestine Action is a bad idea. Listening to the Minister, I thought that his descriptions of the three organisations had very distinct differences and that the actions of Palestine Action did not appear to have the same calibre of evil as those of the other two. Therefore, collectively organising these three into one SI is perhaps a little bit sneaky of this Government. Palestine Action is not like any other group that the British Government have so far declared a terrorist organisation. I was 12 years on the Met Police Authority and in that time I had lots of anti-terrorist briefings. To me, the actions of Palestine Action do not ring true as terrorist activities. Continue reading “Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025” →