MINORITY REPORT GUIDELINES

With the inevitable expected problems of the Crown Prosecution Service I find it somewhat uplifting when I am allocated to a non CPS court as was the case recently.  Cases are usually well prepared and advocates capable.  Of course being contracted for the purpose as many are the incentives are clear.  Disregard of planning conditions, appeals against council tax liability orders for businesses and saddest of all; failure to ensure school attendance were just a few of the cases we heard and upon which we adjudicated.  Our guidelines were our common sense and the range within which we determined culpability etc.  Such is the way the Sentencing Council is progressing we and more particularly the higher courts are more or less within a tick box culture where everything is assumed predictable and punished accordingly.   “Minority Report” and consequent disposals are nearer than anyone could have foreseen.