Access to justice and funding

• Access to justice

  • When a person can’t afford the help they need, they are being denied the right to justice​
  • However, this needs to be balanced with the costs involved, which ultimately are passed onto the tax payer​
• Sources of legal advice in criminal law

  • Anyone held as a suspect holds right of free legal advice + access to duty solicitor
• Public funding in criminal cases

  To receive representation, D must qualify under at least one of the following ‘interests of justice’:

  1. Losing liberty, livelihood or damage to reputation​​
  2. The cases considers a point of law​
  3. D is unable to understand the proceedings​
  4. Case involves tracing or interviewing a witness​
  5. In the interests of another person, that D is represented e.g. for sensitive reasons such as rape​