BACK TO THE FUTURE

The government doesn`t jail people; courts jail people.  Such a simple statement of truth but one which Tory governments seem to consider unimportant and there to be defied.  Today`s headline in TheTimes is so revealing.  

It was only yesterday in a written answer the Lord Chancellor wrote:-

Robert Buckland: ...network for released prisoners or people on community orders. My ambition is to ensure that community sentences are so robust and effective that, when it comes to decision making by judges and *magistrates*, they will be the default choice as opposed to very short sentences that can frankly do more harm than good.

To quote the song, "what a difference a day makes". Just as in 2011 during and after the riots which enveloped many cities the then Tory dominated government issued "orders" to magistrates courts that defendants facing either way charges should be sent to the crown court. Regular readers here might be aware that last Tuesday June 9th I wrote of my own experiences at that time when my two colleagues and I defied such an instruction issued by the Deputy Justices Clerk to the whole bench.  It seems that today in its headlong drive to appear strong and the party of law and order the Lord Chancellor who should know better with his reputation as an honourable man has seemingly bowed to the pressure of yet another Home Secretary with well defined signs of an authoritarian outlook defining her post. All of which leads me back to my opening remarks. There is no doubt that those arrested on charges associated with public disorder will not necessarily have the benefit of legal advice in the police station owing to there being fewer lawyers undertaking such work because of the derisory conditions associated and they themselves being unable to pay for such advice through lack of means and/or knowledge.  I would add that it is a virtual certainty that most if not all such defendants`cases  will be heard before a single district judge and not a bench of magistrates for the simple reason that there will be little likelihood of those paid judges openly defying the "send to crown court orders" and make no mistake they will be "orders" however the instructions are dressed up for private or public consumption.  Taking matters a stage further I doubt that even after a plea or finding of guilt in whatever court that a timetable of 24 hours can be achieved without dreadful harm to the offenders` rights of representation.  To publicise an intention for custody to be the result of this speedy 24 hour so called "justice" is a further travesty of our rapidly declining concept of fairness within our justice system. For the last five years or more, government has repeatedly done all things possible to avoid the prisons being further overwhelmed by prisoner numbers far in excess of what can be coped with without the rights of the inmates being so eroded that it is a disgrace to our once civilised society.  There is also the issue of bail. It is hard to see that that option will be honoured to the clear letter of the law if matters proceed as appears to be the case. As far as actual sentencing is concerned that as in 2011 judges will emphasise that "deterrence" was an issue which accounted for sentences which not just stretched the Sentencing Guidelines but drove a coach and horses through them as justification. 

It must now be obvious to all but the most obtuse that our civil rights as citizens of a country to be ruled by law are being eroded at an ever increasing rate. Of course the hard right "Brexiteer" wing of the Conservative Party in and outside parliament will rejoice and allow our blustering, incompetent and although highly intelligent buffoon of a prime minister to continue unchecked until some of his own discarded high flying M.P.s decide enough is enough. In the meantime the fascist Left will milk the forthcoming riots for all that they`re worth relishing the opportunity for true and heavy violent reaction. Police will be again caught in the crossfire undermanned with their own senior ranks looking backwards as well at what awaits them ahead on the streets.

The feelings of distance by many black people are entirely justified.  The history of policing misconduct is an open wound for them and others but we are in a place now where the prime minister is learning from and following the Donald Trump Playbook.  Real democracy doesn`t disappear in a flash of gunpowder; it is killed by the salami slicing of our liberties. The slicer is well and truly plugged in.