HOME ABORTION APPEAL FAILS

For obvious reasons this blog has and does post on topics usually associated with magistrates courts, magistrates themselves and associated matters connected with the justice system. Today a little commented upon appeal in regard to the law on abortion was lost by Christian Concern although its underlying motivation was in all likelihood shared with right wing religious communities of other denominations. As a  non religious family man who was overjoyed at the safe delivery of a baby I have also held doubts about late onset abortion where although very unlikely a foetus might survive if given the opportunity there is an understanding that for some women an abortion is the lesser of some or many unhappy outcomes. I feel this post is apposite owing to  this week`s appointment by Donald Trump of a dedicated Catholic woman opposed to abortion to the position of Supreme Court Justice in USA.  The mere fact of her succeeding a fiercely liberal woman in the post at such short notice politically has increased interest in this topic which we in this country have long considered settled for all time.  For those interested the appeal is reported here and a statement subsequently from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in response is available here. 

MORE EXCUSES FROM HMCTS

Today I am taking the unusual step in copying below a complete page from today`s Law  Society Gazette detailing changes in magistrates courts.  These changes as indicated in the article, as readers will find, are a direct result of Tory governments cutting and slashing funds to our justice system over the last decade. Of course the official statement is that the Covid 19 epidemic has been the cause but nobody remotely concerned with our courts system will echo that because as insiders we know really what has been happening.  The very essence of our summary justice is a bench of three.  I know only too well that if that number is reduced there is too much scope for one opinion to ride roughshod over another especially with an imbalance of experience between the two and or personality profiles which might appear when there is reduced discussion. It will be very inconvenient for witnesses and/or defendants with family arrangements to be in a courtroom at 8.00pm or longer. And finally there seems to be an assumption that lawyers will be unnecessary. All the above criticism will of course be denied.  EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES.Need I say more?

"HM Courts & Tribunals Service has revealed that it will introduce evening courts to bring down the backlog of cases in the magistrates’ court.

In a webinar discussing HMCTS’s crime recovery plan yesterday, deputy director Jason Latham said HMCTS was in the ‘final stages’ of identifying how to roll out evening sessions, which would run from 5pm-8pm, Monday to Friday.

Latham said the evening sessions would hear cases requiring minimal involvement from a legal representative.

Saturday courts will also be extended. Earlier this week the Ministry of Justice said magistrates’ courts were seeing the number of outstanding cases fall – dealing with around 21,000 cases a week against a pre-Covid baseline of 33,853. Latham said 90 additional sessions were currently running in the magistrates’ court every Saturday.

To bring down the backlog of Crown court cases, Covid-19 operating hours are being tested at Liverpool, Hull, Stafford, Snaresbrook, Portsmouth and Reading crown courts.

Asked about the potential discriminatory impact of Covid-19 operating hours, Latham said: ‘We recognise this could have different types of impact on different types of users, particularly legal professionals. But it has been designed in a way, by the working group, so that provisions are in place for legal professionals in advance of a listed hearing date to request that it be moved, whether it is because of practical issues or issues such as where they have caring responsibilities.’

Latham added that the Covid-19 operating hours had been ‘designed in a way so people do not have to work longer hours. There is a choice of different sitting patterns available to them’.

Around 360 people tuned into HMCTS’s webinar where officials were also asked about empty courtrooms.

Delivery director Gill Hague said courtrooms might look empty but they were empty for a reason. She said they might be required for jury retiring or jury assembly arrangements, or they might not be being used because social distancing requirements cannot be achieved.

On why HMCTS was regularly sitting benches of two magistrates, not the usual three, attendees were told this was due to being able to maintain social distancing requirements not just in court but also ‘everything back of house’, such as the deliberation room and shared facilities."

MAGISTRATES NEED SUPPORT

Like many other Justices of the Peace when I began sitting in an actual court as a new appointee I was informed of the advantages of joining the Magistrates Association.  For a fairly small outlay I considered it a no brainer. I had in my professional life reached the rarified heights of being on the national council of the professional organisation which looked after the interests of its members including me.  Only later did I discover that the MA according to its charitable status did and does nothing to protect or support the individual member. The two magisterial colleagues, however,  who were our bench`s representatives on the MA council seemed to enjoy their position and persuaded many to attend the occasional lectures sponsored by the organisation. About seven years into my tenure I attended MA headquarters with a couple of colleagues having accepted an invitation to explore ways in which members could use their expertise in their commercial/academic/professional lives to the MA`s advantage.  I offered some suggestions and never heard a word subsequently. Around this time a colleague on another bench began a forum to which all magistrates were invited to participate.  I was an early joiner. Owing to dogma or personality clashes that independent forum was closed and simultaneously a new forum was opened under the auspices of the MA and regulated by volunteer colleagues. It was a well run platform where colleagues who had to be members of MA could vent their spleens as many were happy to do.  I was an early participant in that area also.  After being the recipient of rather unpleasant posts in 2009 I stopped my commenting and began blogging as an anonymous independent JP.  Some two years or so later the MA withdrew this forum. I tell this story to illustrate the MA`s tendency to choose secrecy over openness when there is that choice to answer or avoid criticism. 

It is well known that the number of magistrates has reduced in the last decade from around 30,000 to less than half that number; 13,000 today. Corresponding to this reduction has of course been a rapid drop in membership of the Magistrates Association. Added to this there has been a drop in the percentage of magistrates joining the MA. Latest figures extrapolated from the membership subscriptions filed in the MA accounts indicate that perhaps about a quarter of sitting magistrates have chosen not to become members of the Association. The accounts suggest that the MA`s income from members` subscriptions has fallen from over £926K in 2014 to £472 in 2018/19.   No exact figure can be given because the number of members does not appear to be published. Of course if I have been careless in my research no doubt a comment will be made by those who hold the secret in their grasp. 

Increasing involvement by HMCTS in training and general control of magistrates` activities might be a reason for the missing quartile. MOJ supervision of appointed and unelected so called leadership magistrates is a further indication of the slowly eroding influence of the MA.  Magistrates are sorely in need of a protective and supportive organisation to represent them against the often soul destroying investigations and/or complaints by colleagues, Justices Clerks and the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office where every year dozens of magistrates are struck off for failing their sittings requirements or worse. The need is there but the will is obviously not. 

A relevant post from June 2015 on MA attempts to increase its income is  available here. To provide the MA`s raison d`etre  further information from the horse`s mouth of the MA  can be accessed here. 

BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES

Many interested parties have wondered what has become of so called "leadership magistrates" appointed as the toads of the Ministry of Justice three years ago the T word being used of course in its pejorative form although whether the current incumbents have thick or poisonous skins is beyond my ken. All that is known publicly are their names and regions although that information had to be dragged out of Petty France.  Further details will be found on this site by typing "leadership magistrates" in the search box.  These folk are not representative of magistrates. The only representative JPs are those elected to be chairman of their bench or representatives to the Magistrates Association the latter body annually appearing to lose its credibility to influence the MOJ.  The latest example is that it did not know exactly how many magistrates were currently on the MOJ list.  To be fair the MOJ until very recently did not know either.  It so happens the number was 1,000 less than previously accounted for. It seems that now those MOJ lackeys representative of nobody but themselves and obviously expected to initiate or support MOJ policies has finally been exposed to the public in today`s report in the Law Society Gazette from where I have taken the extract below.

 "A  three-year Strategy for the Magistracy drawn up by the Magistrates Leadership Executive lists six objectives to create a ‘comprehensive and sustainable’ recruitment plan. These include exit interviews for colleagues leaving the magistracy and getting agreement from the ministry to set up a national steering group to raise the national profile of magistrates." [My bold]

Thus a further decline in the once was independent magistracy is taking place, as the war time comedian Arthur Askey used as his catchphrase, before your very eyes. 

POLITICAL TRUST! UNKNOWN BUT NOT UNKNOWABLE PROBLEMS AHEAD

 

A cohesive society exists on trust. Individuals who travel from strangers to friendship or closer can only experience worthwhile relationships when there is mutual trust.  Although there are millions of pages of company and commercial law many, especially small businesses, base their relationships and often their commercial success on trust. It might have been the case that in politics also trust was a given particularly at the higher levels of party politics. We are seeing every day on our television screens and in various media that now trust has completely broken down with the lies of Donald Trump being listed almost daily by fact checkers on CNN. Sad to tell that innocuous virus which doesn`t originate in China but whose origin derives from the hearts of men (men includes women in this analogy) is increasing its infiltration into our daily lives. In this country it has been constrained by ancient rules, procedures and attitudes which I fear are no longer strong enough to withhold the pressures being exerted upon them.  The Ministry of Justice has long been at the forefront of presenting its 😁 smiley face by the hundreds of people employed in a press and PR capacity. Typing "MOJ press office" in the search box on the right hand side of the narrative will reveal a few previous ventures into this topic. However one fact I cannot present is the number actually employed to bring that smiley face to the great British public even when the information barely concealed is dire. Knife crime and so called deterrent sentencing are two of the most high profile subjects of which Justice Secretaries like to take possession, i.e.headlines. Cases outstanding at magistrates courts owing to Convid-19 are estimated at 450K-500K.  Under the horizon this dreadful backlog caused in great part by a decade of mismanagement is being reduced at record speeds by using the single justice procedure where so mush goes through on the nod and totally unreported. Similar circumstances at crown courts are less in quantity but a magnitude greater in quality with life changing events for many if not most participants who are not officers of the court. Knife crime is so much part of daily life for many that I have posted on it many times. As previously by placing those terms in the search box a potted history will become available for those who are interested. Justice secretaries per se do not come out of this well irrespective of the weasel words of cracking down or ramping up which seem to be in vogue.   Today MOJ announces that custodial sentences for emergency workers will be increased to two years custody. In 2018 such sentences were doubled from six months to 12 months at the magistrates court. Like a gambler doubling his bet in attempting to win back his losses the maximum is again doubled. These cases will be heard at crown court. But they will not reduce the crime to which they are attached. There are and were conditions to increase sentences already available to CPS and judges. They were not often applied. At this level of criminality it is the fear of being caught and charged which prevails upon those inclined to take their violent path. That fear has simply dissipated owing to the emasculation of police and policing. The use of so called Nightingale Courts so loudly trumpeted just a few months ago has now been called into question with the impending closure of one such that was opened only a month ago.  Other government departments are open to similar criticism by those who know, over their own loose tongues and press releases where once again every little lie is eroding the trust upon which we allow ourselves to be governed.  Yesterday the current holder of that ancient title Lord Chancellor stated re the controversy over the Agreement reached which enabled Boris Johnson to have number 10 as his home, " Buckland: I'll quit if rule of law broken in 'unacceptable way'. With a Home Secretary in denial but five former prime ministers expressing a restrained sense of incredulity that their successor might be the author of the problem we can finally say that political trust between people and ruler has been eroded beyond a point of redemption and that spells unknown but not unknowable problems ahead for all of us. 

A COURT REPORT IN COVENTRY LIVE BETTER NOT PUBLISHED

Reporting from magistrates courts is by necessity often sparse.  Indeed the public is fortunate that court reporting is still undertaken at all by local print media. The cost for publishers is often an expense ill afforded.  My last court activity was over five years ago but after seventeen years on the bench it takes sometimes only a moment or two for old memories to be revived.  And that is what happened when I read this short report.  Now admittedly there is no detail on the offender`s circumstances, his previous offending (if any) or any other material that might have been offered to the bench in mitigation.  There is no information whether as is usually the case a probation pre sentence report was presented to the bench. We do not even know if he were represented although a duty solicitor must be engaged for an offender at first appearance if there is the possibility of custody. Whether or not this was the case we just don`t know. All in all this was court reporting at the lowest level worthy of the description. What we do know is that he pleaded guilty which allows 10% to 33% discount in the sentence. We know that notwithstanding all the above he received the maximum sentence possible under the circumstance according to law. Therefore we can assume that there was considered by the bench maximum culpability although no harm was apparently caused to anyone leaving aside any fears if his actions were visible to the public.  I fail to see how all the above being considered why his sentence was suspended. This really is an example where the reporter should have stayed in bed.

I have long championed the idea of local magistrates courts being televised live by perhaps local media entrepreneurs.  At least we, the great British public, would be able to see the legal process in action as it actual happens; not a severely truncated version of events which might be considered worse than no printed report at all. 

TELEVISION LICENSE EVASION TO BE DE CRIMINALISED AT LAST

This morning I have felt as if I have visited an aged relative`s house where my memories are of long ago and don`t seem linked to the occasion yet they are because otherwise these memories would not exist; the house and its contents would be viewed as a completely new experience. Today HMCTS has listed tomorrow`s court lists on line and publicly available for all magistrates courts in England and Wales. This is undoubtedly a "shout about it from the rooftops" occasion from an organisation which has trumpeted the benefits of hundreds of millions pounds invested in new technology. It has been a long time coming. A decade ago Camberwell Green court in South London was to be the showpiece of the latest technical advances then available.  It failed miserably.  There is no doubt that Convid-19 has accelerated these latest innovations in a courts system which has systematically been deprived of capital funding these last ten years. Naturally enough I have viewed the listings at my old court.  Having previously as a sitting magistrate had sight only of the lists as having been presented before 10.00am or 2.00pm where full details were listed of offence and defendant these public lists had little meaning save for names, list number and allocated rooms.  It was apparent however that many would be expected to go through with minimum time allocated. As usual with very few exceptions all were listed for 10.00am or 2.00pm. Without an inspection of the public waiting area and I presume its safe social distancing layout most cases are likely to be plea by post or no plea at all. 

There was one aspect of this new listing arrangement which definitely caught my attention. Long before I migrated this blog from its now defunct German owned host to its current host site Blogspot in 2013 I had been an advocate of the decriminalisation of failure to possess a TV license. The earliest that opinion was offered to the ether here was 9th March 2014. In retrospect I was a little optimistic that the soundings from government spokesmen were to have substance.  However there is no doubt now that the whispers then are very soon to be activated loud and clear and the BBC is trembling at its corporate knees at the prospect which, combined with the requirement to take non payers to the county court and for most viewers over 75 to pay full price for their viewing privilege, will leave it financially in very serious trouble. Currently those hauled before the magistrates court for non payment are facing the single justice procedure. I have from afar had principled objections to that procedure since its inception. For further posts on this topic just type the three appropriate words in the search box. Be that as it may that is the system in current use for license evasion. In its new openness HMCTS has published tomorrow`s SJP list for my former court (amongst others). There are listed  nearly 1900 cases of which I estimate over 90% are indeed for the criminal offence of TV license evasion. If my previous experiences are a guide it is unlikely that more than a handful of defendants will attend in person. Almost 130,000 offenders were convicted in England in 2018  the majority of the few jailed being women who make up almost 70 per cent of those prosecuted.  Indeed 30% of all criminal prosecutions against women in 2017 were for evasion of the TV licence. It is not a moment too soon for the government`s decision to be made public and to be implemented ASAP.