Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 9:15 pm on 5 March 2008.

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Photo of Baroness Stern Baroness Stern Crossbench 9:15, 5 March 2008

I support the amendments of the noble Earl, my colleague on the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which attempt to set out what the Joint Committee on Human Rights would feel is the minimum standard to be applied before conditions are applied to someone that restrict that person's liberty. Although the noble Lord, Lord West, does not think that the conditions are punitive, most of us might feel that they were if they were to be imposed on us, because it is hard to imagine what restrictions on liberty could be imposed that were not punitive. In those circumstances, it is appropriate that the person who will lose some aspects of his liberty has a right to various elements of a fair trial.

When the Minister replies, will he tell us a little more about the risk assessment process that has been mentioned a number of times? As far as I am aware, there are a number of risk assessment tools, none of which has very great validity. They are useful, but one could not say any more than that. If the Government are proceeding on the basis of risk assessment tools then the amendment proposed by the noble Earl is particularly important, because the risk assessment tools have flaws that could lead to great injustice. It would be very helpful to hear more on how the Government see this process of risk assessment and how some elements of due process can be introduced to protect the individual.