Protest law in the UK has been tightened due to disruptive actions by climate change activists. Rap lyrics are now being scrutinized in California legal cases. Law students at Liverpool John Moores University offer free legal advice. The podcast also explores the challenges of balancing competing rights in protests and discusses new offenses and powers in the Public Order Bill.
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Activist Imprisoned for Climate Protest
Margaret Reed served six weeks in prison for peaceful protest against fossil fuel licenses.
She believes the legal system protects fossil fuel profits over human life in the climate emergency context.
insights INSIGHT
Expanded Protest Offences Explained
New Public Order Bill criminalizes locking on and tunneling, expanding police powers beyond existing laws.
These acts were previously dealt with under trespass, obstruction, or public nuisance charges on a case-by-case basis.
insights INSIGHT
Balancing Protest Rights and Law
Police must gather evidence identifying individuals and prove their actions lacked lawful defense.
Courts balance freedom of expression against others' rights to determine reasonableness of protest acts.
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Climate change activists have caused a lot of disruption over the past year, and recently also made headlines with stunts like throwing tomato soup at a Van Gogh painting in the National Gallery. The government's response has been to tighten up protest law; first in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and now in the Public Order bill currently going through Parliament. What is and isn't illegal now? What could become illegal soon? And how are the police interpreting new laws that rely on their discretion, such as whether a protest is too noisy?
Can rap lyrics amount to confessions to murder? Song lyrics are usually understood to be fiction - Tom Jones's 'Delilah' isn't an admission that the Welsh singer actually stabbed an unfaithful girlfriend, and Bob Marley never "shot the sheriff". But in California rap lyrics have been presented as evidence in criminal prosecutions in such a way that the state has now legislated to restrict the use of those lyrics in trials. And a murder conviction has been overturned, and a retrial ordered, for a rapper convicted on the grounds of his lyrics.
Where would you go for free legal advice? Probably not a university, but in Liverpool people can now get appointments with law students at Liverpool John Moores University, who will conduct an interview them and produce a letter of advice, all under the supervision of solicitors, and free of charge. There's something in it for the students too: they gain practical experience which counts towards their course, and later on towards their qualifying examination.
Presenter: Joshua Rozenberg
Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Researcher: Diane Richardson
Production coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross
Sound engineer: James Beard
Editor: Simon Watts
The Law Show