21 February 201621 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Funding is welcome, but root causes of mental illness are growing

source: The Guardian
published: 19 February 2016

The impression is being created of unstoppable momentum towards expansion and improvement of mental health services. Reports, cash and pledges of action are piling up. But it is hard to identify what will change and from where the money will come. Meanwhile, the problems that give rise to mental illnesses are growing.

Hitting hyperbolic heights this week, NHS England promised “the biggest transformation of mental health care across the NHS in a generation”.

Continue reading

17 January 201621 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Richard Walton dodges Stephen Lawrence spying probe by retiring

source: Dailey Mail
published: 12 January 2016

A police chief accused of covering up the Stephen Lawrence spying scandal is dodging disciplinary action by retiring.

The official watchdog concluded this week that Richard Walton, who heads Scotland Yard’s anti-terror unit, has a case to answer for misconduct.

It is alleged he was involved in a secret plot by a disgraced undercover unit to gather intelligence on the family of murdered Stephen in the late 1990s.

14 January 201621 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Death penalty receives another blow, this time in Pennsylvania

source: Above The Law
published: 5 January 2016

The death penalty has come under fire recently in state courts. Now a recent case out of Pennsylvania highlights a possible role for state executives in hastening the death penalty’s demise.

Remember how last summer the Connecticut Supreme Court issued an opinion ending the death penalty in Connecticut? The court held that the death penalty violates the Connecticut constitution’s cruel and unusual punishment provision — the state analog of the Eighth Amendment — because the practice of killing convicts “fails to comport with contemporary standards of decency” and “is devoid of any legitimate penological justifications.”