Hugs, not drugs

Judge Justin Phillips is not a stereotypical legal figure.

Instead of wearing a wig and robes, he wears trainers, tracksuit bottoms and sometimes even a rugby shirt with the words, 'Hugs - Not Drugs'.

Judge Justin - as he's happy to be called - works at the West London Drugs court. He says that for drug related crime, prison usually doesn't work. And now he's brought a controversial legal experiment over from America to the UK.

The idea? Give offenders charged with low level crime the chance to get off drugs, rather than automatically sending them to prison.

Judge Justin claims that this option is not a 'soft touch' - and that if his clients reoffend, they may still get sent to jail.

But if they complete their programmes and get off drugs, they'll be rewarded with a hug from the Judge!

Intrigued, Outlook's Matthew Bannister went to Judge Justin's offices to find out how the system works.