Free Webinar – To Protect or Punish? Children, counter-terrorism and the criminal justice system

The Child Rights International Network’s (CRIN) latest report reveals how every stage of the UK’s counter-terrorism system threatens children’s rights in chilling ways. From pre-criminal to pre-trial, to trial and sentencing, there is a pressing need for reforms and approaches that genuinely protect children.

Link to CRIN report: To Protect or Punish? Children, counter-terrorism and the criminal justice system — CRIN

This webinar will explore the themes in the report and discuss how the current system can be improved for children.

Speakers
Mark Gatley KC, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Chair)
Mark is Head of the Crime Team. He is an accomplished and highly regarded silk with a heavyweight criminal defence practice, specialising in serious and organised crime, and regularly acting for private clients. He has a well-deserved reputation for the quality of his advocacy and his ability to win-over juries in the most difficult of cases.

Hossein Zahir KC, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Hossein Zahir specialises in criminal defence work. He has represented defendants charged with murder, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering and other serious crimes. He has a particular interest in terrorism and public order and protest cases. Hossein Zahir has acted as lead defence counsel in some of the most high-profile criminal and terrorist trials in recent times. He is recognised as a leading individual in both Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500. He is a member of the Garden Court Chambers Crime Team, winners of the Legal 500 Crime Team of the Year 2015.

Jonathan Hall KC, Barrister, Independent Reviewer of Counter-Terrorism Legislation
Jonathan Hall KC was appointed as the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in May 2019 to scrutinise and report on terrorism legislation. He has written five annual reports on terrorism legislation, as well as reviews of domestic counter-terrorism sanctions for HM Treasury and international counter-terrorism sanctions for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. In February 2024, he was also appointed as the first Independent Reviewer of State Threats Legislation under the National Security Act 2023. This role requires him to review the new offences and powers introduced by the 2023 Act, as well as the ports powers used in connection with hostile state activity under Schedule 3 to the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019.

Kate Aubrey-Johnson, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Kate is a youth justice specialist barrister and mediator at Garden Court Chambers with experience as a criminal defence practitioner and public lawyer. Kate is co-author of the leading textbook Youth Justice Law and Practice (LAG, 2019). She is a youth justice expert and is regularly called upon to give lectures and deliver training. She chairs the Ministry of Justice’s Working Group on Youth Advocacy and works in an advisory capacity in the youth justice sector. Kate is working closely with the Law Society, the Criminal Bar Association and the Inns of Court College of Advocacy to ensure lawyers have the specialist skills and expertise to represent children. Kate was Highly Commended in Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT) UK’s ‘Children’s Champion Awards’ for her commitment to supporting child victims of trafficking.

James Mehigan, Barrister, CRIN/Garden Court Chambers
Prior to coming to the Bar, James worked as a researcher for three human rights organizations; Front Line Defenders – The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Dublin (where he remains a trustee and company director of the UK branch), the International Council on Human Rights Policy in Geneva and the Ethical Investment Research Service in London. He has provided advice to numerous other NGOs. He is a former member of the Policy Council at Liberty and the legal advisory panel at the Child Rights International Network.

Dr Miranda Bevan, Kings College London
Dr Miranda Bevan is a Lecturer in Law at the Dickson Poon School of Law, specialising in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. Miranda gained her PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2019. Her doctoral research into the experience of children and young people detained as suspects in the police station broke new ground as the first substantial empirical study in England and Wales focusing on the child’s perspective of police detention. As an ESRC post-doctoral fellow at LSE she built on that research, working with the Independent Custody Visitors Association to support their national thematic focus on children in police custody, producing a range of training videos and resources. She also collaborated with the National Appropriate Adult Network in the creation of an animated video resource for family members supporting children in police custody as appropriate adults. She maintains her connection with the role acting as a volunteer appropriate adult for the Southwark Appropriate Adult Service.

Reserve your online ticket
If you have booked an online ticket, we will send joining details to all those who have signed up on the day of the event. If you have not received the link by 2 pm on 10 November, and it is not in your junk inbox, please email webinars@gclaw.co.uk.