Today is the first step to a life beyond injustice

Today is the first step to a life beyond injustice.”His solicitor Kate Akester, of the human rights campaign group Justice, criticised the Home Office for not offering immediate compensation for Mr Evans, whose rehabilitation is being funded through private donations. Michael Streeter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, considers the problems of adjusting to freedom and modern society. When Andrew Evans was convicted of murdering a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Ted Heath was prime minister and decimal currency was still a novelty.
Yesterday, Mr Evans – who was just 17 when he was supposed to have battered Judith Roberts to death – was thrust back into the late 20th century after the Court of Appeal ruled that his conviction was unsafe and unreliable.Campaigners for Mr Evans have now arranged for him to go to special safe accommodation and undergo counselling to come to terms his freedom.Taking his first steps as a free man for quarter of a century , he said : “For more than 25 years I have been held responsible for a crime I did not commit. “Curfews are a quick solution that don’t do much,” argues James Fox of Northeastern University in Boston “They take up a lot of resources for little return.”. A soldier who spent 25 years in jail for murder had his conviction quashed. It is thought to be the longest period served by someone wrongly convicted.

The American Civil Liberties Union argues that they violate the Bill of Rights.Nor are all criminologists convinced of their value. Often a city will stipulate that parents of the children must pay the fines. Advocates of the curfews say this encourages parents to take greater responsibility.The toughest of the laws also extend the curfews to day time hours. In an attempt to reduce school truancy, children are barred from public places during regular school hours.Attempts by some cities to impose curfews have been thwarted by constitutional challenges. A minority reported that youth crime had in fact increased since the curfews were enacted. Others complained that they were difficult and costly to implement.Typically, the curfew laws require children of 18 years or under to be off the streets and in their homes from 11 pm to 6am Violations are usually punishable by fines of up to $500. In one case, it had dropped by 50 per cent.The number of urban curfews in the US has been multiplying for several years and has coincided with a general hardening of attitudes towards crime.

So far, however, none of the largest cities, like New York or Los Angeles, have attempted them.Not all the cities surveyed voiced satisfaction with the experiment. Those cities said that juvenile crime had fallen by an average of 21 per cent since the curfews were put in place. More US cities than ever before have imposed strict curfews on teenagers in an effort to cut down on juvenile crime.
The rising popularity of the curfews among politicians and police chiefs is recorded in a new survey of 347 different US cities, each with populations of 30,000 or more, released this week by the US Conference of Mayors.The report found that 276 of those cities now have curfews in place, a marked increase compared with the last survey, conducted two years ago. But, as David Usborne finds out, most politicians and police chiefs like them. Curfews aimed at keeping teenagers off the streets have angered civil liberties groups in the United States.

Alongside the Bill, the Court of Appeal will issue new guidelines on sentencing to ensure greater consistency in the way offenders are dealt with.Many of the proposed schemes will be piloted before they apply nationally and the full impact of the measures should kick in by April 1999 – given them two years to have an impact before the next general election.. Some experts think the final savings could be even higher, with an overall annual reduction in prison numbers potentially up to 7,000.The measures will need 600 new probation officers to supervise sex offenders and violent criminals in the community following their release from prison. The offences will attract higher sentences .Officials believe this will provide incentive for the police and prosecutors to unearth any racial motive behind crimes.Many parts of the Bill have been heavily trailed, including parenting orders to provide counselling sessions, enforceable orders against anti- social behaviour – backed by five-year jail sentences – child curfews, final warnings and detention and training orders for young offenders.An unusual proposal is to allow remand hearings and other pre-trial hearings – where a defendant is in custody but not required by the court to attend the hearing – to be conducted through live television links between courts and prisons.Many in the crime prevention business believe the most important provision is the new duty – included despite initial police opposition – on forces and local authorities to draw up crime reduction strategies in their areas.Although the overall package will cost an estimated pounds 120m a year to implement, ministers believe that it can save pounds 180m from the prison bill through the electronic tagging and early release of 6,000 prisoners annually. The Bill, which should come into force next autumn, also creates a new series of “racially aggravated” offences, including assaults, harassment and public order offences.