Getting Court
The Faculty of Law is delighted to host a drinks reception and talks for Getting Court on Tuesday 4th June from 17:30 and 19:30.
Drug trafficking offences in Oxfordshire have increased by 51% in the past 2 years and this increase is attributable to the phenomenon of “County Lines”. This involves urban gangs moving class A drugs and cash between inner city hubs and provincial areas, recruiting young people to sell drugs in rural areas. The increase in drugs crime is also importing another scourge to Oxfordshire - knife crime. As Simon Harding, professor of criminology at the University of West London said: “The way it used to work was that they would send up lads from London but they stood out like a sore thumb. Now they have switched to recruiting local people. Often people in these areas don’t realise that these London boys play by different rules and if they threaten to stab you, they will do - that is the end of it.”
Two Oxford judges, HH Judge Ian Pringle QC, the Honorary Recorder of Oxford and HH Judge Peter Ross have agreed to give an insight into these two major areas of concern. With the experience they have, they will be able to tell us of the seriousness of the threat, and ways to combat it. In particular, they may be able to provide some clues as to how to spot any signs of involvement in the county lines phenomenon.
The evening is being organised by Getting Court, Oxford, a charity set up 4 years ago by the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, Tom Birch Reynardson. Tom, who is a lawyer, saw a need for young people to be involved in the court process, to give them a unique insight into the criminal justice system. The project allows small groups of schoolchildren aged 13 and upwards to visit the court and to see sentences being handed down. As well as sitting in on the proceedings, the students are given a walk-through of the process by the clerk, explanations of the cases by the judge, and summaries of either side of the case by the barristers.
The purpose of Getting Court is threefold:
- First, by visiting Court young people can see for themselves that “the authorities” – that is the police, the prison and court officers, the probation services and the lawyers and judges serve their communities by protecting them;
- Second, it may be that some of the pupils will think that a career in the court service, the law or the police might be for them;
- Third, the experience of seeing a “live” court case might help young people make the right decisions before finding themselves the wrong side of the line.
This event is open to law students and Law Faculty members of the University of Oxford only. Please register your attendance sending an email to events@law.ox.ac.uk using your university email address.