Land Registry announces first mandatory digital process

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Jack Marshall (Student)

The digital age is now upon us. Previously if conveyancers wanted to make changes to an existing title it would have been sufficient for them to provide a scanned copy of the form

From November 2022 it is compulsory to use the digital registration process. This is significant as it is the first time the Land Registry have made a digital channel mandatory.

Currently, fewer than 10% of the population make application changes to titles through an online registration service.

Simon Hayes who is the Chief executive and Chief Land Registrar has been quoted as saying “this is a game changemaker”. He also went on to say that “doing an application process based on data rather than the traditional paper based method is fundamental to transforming the way we register and will pay a vital role in improving the end-to-end conveyancing journey”

Statistics show that doing an application through an online registry service cuts down errors by 25% and the amount of time it takes to process applications is halved.

Staffordshire University Legal Advice Clinic offers free legal advice on all land registration issues. If you would like an appointment please call 01782 294458 or email SULAC@staffs.ac.uk

Law Book Club

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The first session of this year’s LLB Book Club was held on the afternoon of Wednesday the 6th of October. 

The book club is part of a range of activities the Law department are implementing for our students outside of teaching.

Students are reading and talking about Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies, which was published in 2020. 

They are enjoying the opportunity to converse in a very convivial setting about the range of issues that the author explores, issues that deserve the attention of not just law students but everyone.

An observational study using the Impact Point approach to measure the utility of digital forensic science in online child sexual exploitation cases

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The Centre for Crime, Justice and Security carried out work for the Home Office on the effectiveness of digital forensics in child sexual exploitation.

‘An observational study using the Impact Point approach to measure the utility of digital forensic science in online child sexual exploitation cases’ can be accessed here. 

G7 Speakers’ Conference in Lancashire

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G7 Speakers recently met face-to-face at their annual conference which was held in Chorley in Lancashire. Aidan Flynn, Senior Lecturer in Law, reflects on the role of Speaker of the House of Commons.

The G7 Speakers’ Conference took place in Lancashire from the 17th to the 19th of September.  It was hosted by Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and the theme was ‘Secure versus Open Parliaments?’  Sir Lindsay welcomed Speakers and Presiding Officers representing Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the USA and the European Parliament. 

The Speaker of the House of Commons chairs debates in the Commons Chamber.  The holder of this office is an MP who is elected to be Speaker by other Members of Parliament.  Baroness Boothroyd, the first female speaker (1992 to 2000), referred to the office as “the top insider’s job in the Mother of Parliaments”

Sir Lindsay’s immediate predecessor has stated that the role involves “a duty to stand up for MPs individually, to champion Parliament institutionally and to try to make Parliament look more like the country we are charged to represent”  In the words of other former speakers, the holder of the office “should be the servant of the House and not of the executive” and must “exercise a firm hand and throw out the people who break the rules.”

Richard Onslow, speaker from 1527/8 to 1571, is buried in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire.  The Onslow Monument is inside Shrewsbury Abbey, a Parish Church in the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield.

 

How I Stepped Up to Level Five

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Shabana Butt completed the Step Up to HE programme at Staffordshire University and is now starting level 5 of her Criminal Justice with Offender Management degree (second year of a three year degree and third year with a foundation year degree). Shabana shares her experiences of studying the Step Up programme and how it helped prepare her for further study. 

From a young age I was always fascinated with the law and the criminal justice system and toyed with the idea of becoming a solicitor working in the criminal justice sector. I left school with some GCSEs but did not progress to further or higher education. Fast forward in time to 2019, and my children were now of secondary school age and I felt that the time was now right for me to ‘do something for me’ and take up studying in higher education.

I saw an ad on my sister’s FaceBook for the Step Up to HE at Staffordshire University. I went onto the Staffordshire university website and started to research how to enrolL on the the ‘Step Up’ programme. I completed an online application form and then had an interview with Ashley Cotton who was running the programme.

I received an email letting me know that I was successful in the interview; I was offered a place on the step of programme and enrolled on the course, which started in April 2019. I was excited and a bit nervous of what I was letting myself in for. I had face to face sessions with Ashley and Judy Rimmer, and we were given sessions on study skills, essay writing and academic referencing. I was shown how to set out an academic piece of work and how to use Harvard (a referencing system).  We were involved in some basic group discussions and some simple presentations. The whole purpose of the Step Up to HE seemed to be to preparing us for study in higher education and we had the opportunity to write an essay about a subject of our choice. We were asked to complete an assignment discussing a medical situation; I wrote about diabetes.

I submitted the assignment on Turnitin on Blackboard; we had been shown how to use Turnitin on the programme. I knew that if I was successful, I would be able to progress to a full degree at Staffordshire university. I was excited and really pleased, because I had worked very hard and got 70% on my assignment. It was the first time I had undertaken an academic piece of writing since I was at school, but the help of Ashley and the other tutors my experience was absolutely fantastic and really built my confidence. Ashley and the tutors put on a graduation ceremony for us, and we had a buffet, pictures were taken and we were made to feel very special by Staffordshire University.

I was still interested in law and the criminal justice system, so I enrolled on the LLB with a Foundation Year (FY). I had a great time on the foundation year and received a lot of support and met a lot of really nice friends, some of whom I still I’m in contact with and are on the same course as me now. It was far more intense undertaking the full-time foundation year as we had four modules and were required to be in the university for a lot longer.

I had a lot of support by my tutors on level three on the foundation year and I could see how there was a natural progression from the ‘Step Up’ Programme to the FY year. Both programmes provided me with ample support and the opportunity to develop my skills and build my confidence as I approached the full three-year programme. I really enjoyed my criminal law and criminal justice modules in the foundation year.

A level four student called Farida Zerglaine was on a course called Criminal Justice with Offender Management and she told me how she was really enjoying it. She said that she had a fantastic time on the level four and recommended that I go on to that because I liked the criminal side of my studies. I spoke to the course leader who was also the tutor my FY module – Louis Martin. He explained to me that the course was about people who are interested in working in the criminal justice sector working with offenders and young offenders. I was interested in working with young offenders in Stoke and had some experience of the youth offending service. I decided to transfer onto the Offender Management course, and I had a fantastic first year.  All the support and guidance provided by Staffordshire university over the last two years really prepared me for success on the Offender Management course.

So here we are! I write this now as I start on level 5 and have already done some research for my research project on youth offending and I wrote a blog about this earlier on in the year. I can’t wait to start in October I’m really looking forward to it.

For more information about studying Offender Management with us, visit our Criminology course page to read more about our new Criminology with Offender Management pathway. 

 

 

Former Forensic Investigation Student appointed Crime Scene Manager.

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Craig Ratcliffe graduated with an MSCi in Forensic Investigation in 2015 from the School of Law Policing and Forensics.

At the end of his degree year in 2014 he was selected to undertake a 6 week placement with Staffordshire Police through the Staffordshire Forensic Partnership. During his placement he worked on a joint project entitled The Use of Immersive Digital Technologies for Police and Forensic Services in 21st Century.

It is what we would now call Virtual Reality and was clearly ahead of its time, as it is really only in the last couple of years that police forces have started to seriously look at VR as a means of delivering realistic practical training for officers and staff.

Craig’s first role after graduation was with West Mercia Police working as Digital Forensic Investigator which saw him capturing CCTV from both residential and commercial crime scenes. A year later he joined Staffordshire Police as a Digital Forensic Investigator which involved recovering CCTV evidence and attending and taking photographs at post mortems to assist police, the coroner and where required the court.

In 2017 he was appointed a Forensic Investigator (CSI) within Staffordshire realising a long held ambition.

His role was and is to attend (mainly) volume crime scenes to recover forensic evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, and footwear impressions. Craig attributes his degree and experience from Staffordshire University as giving him the basic skills and confidence to start a career in the police.

Earlier this year after some four years experience as a Forensic Investigator, Craig was appointed a Crime Scene Manager within Staffordshire Police. He is the youngest person in the force to hold the position. Whilst he remains an FI on a day-to-day basis, when it comes to major or complex crime scenes the role sees Craig directing and tasking other Forensic Investigators to carry out scene actions relating to the incident they are dealing with. The CSM also creates a scene and crime specific forensic strategy to ensure that best evidence is preserved.

The role is also a liaison one, linking in with Senior Investigating Officers, attending briefings and working with the Forensic Coordinator to ensure that the correct resources are available.

Craig is also using his experience to help develop the next generation of forensic specialists studying at Staffordshire University as he has joined the Staffordshire Forensic Partnership as a work stream lead. He hopes to be able to attend lectures and mentor students undertaking a placement project very much as he did in 2014.

Here is Craig speaking in 2019 of his student experience with the SFP at the 3rd year celebrations of the partnership.

 

 

Criminogenic Dynamics of the Construction Industry: A State-Corporate Crime Perspective

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Dr Jon Davies’ paper in the Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime “contributes to the state-corporate crime agenda by demonstrating how discussions on criminogenic industry structures provide critical links between organizational processes and broader political-economic dynamics, which is crucial for developing a criminological discourse.”

Read ‘Criminogenic Dynamics of the Construction Industry: A State-Corporate Crime Perspective’ here. 

Fault lines of food fraud: key issues in research and policy

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Jon Davies’ – Criminology and Sociology Lectuer – co-authored article with Nicholas Lord, Cecilia Flores Elizondo and Jon Spencer is now available. 

“This article analyses three key areas in the literature on food fraud where we see fault lines emerging: 1. food fraud research orientations; 2. food fraud detection and prevention (and the dehumanisation and decontextualisation associated with analytical testing); and, 3. food fraud regulation and criminalisation. We argue that these fault lines raise questions over the plausibility of knowledge on food frauds and in some cases produce specious arguments.”

Read ‘Fault lines of food fraud: key issues in research policy‘ here. 

Working, living and dying in COVID times: perspectives from frontline adult social care workers in the UK

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Working, living and dying in COVID times: perspectives from frontline adult social care workers in the UK, is available to read here. The co-authored article written by Luke Telford – Criminology and Sociology Lecturer are Staffordshire University – Daniel Briggs and Anthony Ellis aimed ‘to explore 15 UK adult social care workers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.’ 

Luke said that it is “based on qualitative research with care workers during the pandemic, outlining the state’s failure to adequately protect both staff and vulnerable residents in care homes”