PEACE ON EARTH

I suppose "peace on Earth and goodwill towards men" sums up precisely what the world needs most. Unfortunately recent events indicate that that aspiration might never be attained.  However until such time that that enduring phrase is erased from our consciousness and our consciences we can but be hopeful that we might reach an era when its repetition offers some solace to all of us.

I thank all my readers for the precious minutes they have spent to read my simple offerings in 2019 and hope to be back here with some more of the same in January.  

   

NO LEGAL AID MEANS NO ROSY FUTURE

Of all the announcements in the Queen`s Speech one that will have bypassed those without a vested interest in the subject is that almost 500 new prosecutors will be recruited in the next six months after concerns that criminal cases were dropped or delayed owing to a shortage of resources. Since 2010 when the MOJ budget was slashed by 23% and loudly proclaimed by he who has just retired as "father of the House; Kenneth Clarke", the justice system of which politicians of all hues shout so proudly has been allowed to fall into what can only be described as disrepair.  Of course at the top of the justice tree where the highest civil courts and their professional protagonists operate billions of pounds keep rolling in from those foolish individuals and companies with more money than they know what to do with. The Supreme Court as has been seen recently offers the most demanding questions of law to its members and provides the highest quality of decisions. But at t`other end in what remains of our magistrates courts and to a certain degree in the Crown Courts inefficiencies and sheer incompetencies  seem every day to outdo each other in their capacity to undermine swift, safe and secure justice for all. All the components in the running of a court are there in a state of disarray and/or wilful neglect. The numbers of magistrates was allowed to drop to alarming levels supposedly in line with a falling workload and the closing of half the courts in England and Wales. Urgent recruitment over the last few months and currently is likely to lead to a drop in quality standards of those hurriedly thrown into the midst of a recruitment policy which over emphasises the diversity mix as much as any other individual requirements. During the last few years of my career on the bench prosecutors without a law degree were being employed in matters where properly qualified CPS personnel were unavailable. Returning to my opening sentence there is no knowing of what academic or professional level these 500 hurriedly soon to be employed newcomers will have to have achieved but in all likelihood many will not be qualified lawyers.  During my tenure such people were referred to as "assistant prosecutors". It remains to be seen what 2020 holds but I`m afraid that without the availability of legal aid as it was twenty years ago that outlook is far from rosy.  

GOVERNMENT AND LAW

It would be churlish to ignore the election result on the basis of this writer being primarily concerned with matters which affect magistrates and those who appear before them  That a blatantly antisemitic communist whose political ethos has been driven by a hatred for western civilisation and sympathy and support for murderous terrorists became leader of the Labour Party reflects very badly on us all.  It remains to be seen whether his cult following will be culled by the incoming leadership. An English nationalist is now holding more power over us than any prime minister since 1945. He has returned to number 10  with an ouvert admiration for Donald Trump and irrespective of any  major policy announcements has clearly hinted that he regards the courts as an obstacle to his will having been humiliated by the Supreme Court and the Court of Session. I comment as a firm Leaver until last spring when it became clear that Theresa May was incapable of securing a withdrawal agreement that would not ruin much of British business and the jobs involved.  As a Remainer Now supporter on Twitter I am therefore not unhappy now that the Conservatives are securely in power and are likely to deliver on a settlement which will not be detrimental to our future growth but..................and that "but" is the  threat to the courts` powers to step in when the executive appears to have overstepped its authority.  There will be no European Union authority as a long off.  We will be on our own. Boris Johnson should be reminded that any changes to our legal system concerning the constitution would be available to a future government less inclined to operate under the rule of law.   

TV LICENSING SHOULD BE DECRIMINALISED

It seems, predictable as ever, Boris Johnson has come up with what he thinks might be a last minute inducement to secure more of the "grey" vote which tends to be more conservative than socialist. There is the possibility that over 75s will lose their "free" TV license next summer and he has hinted that he might tell the BBC to fund the freebie if it wants it to continue. With a maximum fine [rarely applied] for TV license evasion of £1000 appearing not to deter evasion by usually the poorest of pensioners he has mused on its abandonment. Last year there were 129,446 prosecutions for TV license evasion all of course in magistrates courts. It is exceedingly difficult to translate that number into meaningful statistics owing to the frequency of court closures undertaken since 2010 when the coalition government came to power.  It seems that 162 of the 323 magistrates courts in England and Wales have shut – a loss of 50.2% of the estate. That translates as the remaining 161 having each 804 defendants annually to deal with or 15 every week in each magistrates court.  It has been suggested that these cases represent about 10% of all cases at the magistrates court. There are about 26 million license payers ie about 0.50% of TV viewers` households have been found guilty of evasion. Along with the vast majority of my former colleagues I was none too happy with the situation. Invariably the poorest and/or recently arrived immigrants seemed to form the bulk of offenders although it was not unusual to discover that a subscription TV service was being paid for when the license was not. Those appearing before us were distressed to discover that that they had committed a criminal offence.  License inquiry agents tended to hold the first person to open the front door of a suspected premises to be the person responsible for the offence. Most members of the public do not know that they were under no obligation to open the door nor allow entrance to their property. I recall a case where that unlucky door opening first person who appeared before me and my colleagues was a visiting American Harvard law graduate who now as a result has a criminal record in the UK.  As a result when my son went to university I advised him not to overlook requiring a license for his flat`s TV and never to open the door to an inquiry agent. 

There is no doubt that it is about time that this offence was decriminalised and offenders were brought before county court. I would go further and agree with the aforementioned Johnson that in keeping with the development of digital entertainment platforms a license funded BBC is an anachronism.  That, however, is a situation outwith the sphere of legal eagles and is a purely political matter for those oh so wise individuals who are so superior in their judgement than we poor mortals; heaven be praised and God save the Queen. 

IT`S NOT WHAT YOU SAY: IT`S WHAT YOU MEAN. SOME PERSONAL HUMOUR

How often in general discussion do we ask for a remark to be repeated because although we heard what was being said we hadn`t actually been listening. A rarely mentioned benefit of chairing a court is that one trains oneself to listen to everything that is said. As I was listening to a weather forecast on TV last week the forecaster began by saying,"Most of us will have a wet and windy night". Speaking to my wife for both our sakes I remarked,"Not me I hope." 

EARLY RELEASE

The tragic circumstances last week involving a convicted terrorist who was freed early according to the law at the time in question has led to many claims and counter claims about which party was ultimately responsible.  That debate conducted whilst the crime scene was still cordoned off and the relatives of those murdered still in shock was a disgusting spectacle which reinforced my and many others` opinions that we are being asked to vote for the most inadequate pair of party leaders in my adult lifetime.  However the question of early release is one considered by every magistrates bench in every magistrates court every day of the week. On sentencing a miscreant to immediate custody the chairman of the bench after stating the exact term must tell the person in the dock that it is likely that s/he will be released on license after having served half the sentence aforestated.  During my time when I was responsible for such pronouncements I made them through gritted teeth.  It seemed to me then and it seems to me now that it made nonsense of the Sentencing Guidelines which every court must follow. The concept of sentence reduction as a "given" renders the process meaningless. Certainly in the right circumstances early release in itself is a fine ideal.  It is, however, offered willy nilly. We hear so often much criticism of the "stick" approach to sentencing from well financed lobbyists but rarely that the "carrot" approach has been misused in order to keep the prison population from exploding.  Early release should be subject to the satisfactory behaviour of prison inmates and be considered by an expanded and more citizen weighted parole board whose members would be of a similar calibre to those appointed to the bench able to function without the underlying government`s opinion on whether or not it is in line with their political aspirations. I am realistically despondent, however,  insofar as that situation is unlikely ever to materialise.