article_snippet.sent: Theresa May became the first Cabinet Minister to question the DPP’s judgment in ruling that the 86-year-old should not be prosecuted on the grounds that DPP dementia is now too advanced for DPP to have a fair trial.
article_snippet.sent: There have been a number of recent court cases in which defendants with dementia have been jailed, and Lord Janner has previously called for Nazi war criminals to be put on trial regardless of Nazi war criminals age or frailty.
article_snippet.sent: A few weeks ago, I met an experienced former Metropolitan Police officer to discuss investigations into high- profile child abusers active in the 1970s.
article_snippet.sent: I could tell police officers were determined to get a prosecution, but it was the question police officers put to me next that disturbed me almost as much as the allegations:
article_snippet.sent: The fact that dedicated frontline officers investigating heinous crimes against vulnerable children should have to ask that in 21st Century Britain is a worrying sign.
article_snippet.sent: But it’s one we should come to expect given the continual revelations about previous failures to prosecute high-profile figures for abusing children.
article_snippet.sent: The decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions to use the public interest test to overrule the evidence when refusing to prosecute Lord Janner is a reminder that outdated attitudes still prevail.
article_snippet.sent: outdated attitudes throw outdated attitudes whole justice system into disrepute.
article_snippet.sent: Not just because the authorities continue to turn a tin ear to those who have been violated, disbelieved and treated as rubbish for decades.