This afternoon Justice Minister Simon power gave a speech to the Institute of Policy Studies on his plans to reform criminal justice policy, in which he announced his plans to repeal the archaic defence of provocation:
Finally, the partial defence of provocation in homicide cases will be the subject of reform.Unfortunately, he gave no timeline, so it could sit around in the queue for years - just like it did under Labour. But hopefully, they will listen to the public mood and move quickly.I want to say right now that I do not believe this defence has any place on the statute books.
It wrongly enables defendants to besmirch the character of victims, and effectively rewards a lack of self-control.
