So now we have the ninth Justice Secretary in 12 years of Tory government. Each has left no fundamental mark upon the justice system although failing Grayling did his best to undermine the prison and probation services. Until the summons hits them in the letter box most people have little knowledge of and couldn`t care less about the courts and what goes on within them. Part of the reason is that local court reporting about which I have written here more than once is becoming a historical left over from the time when local newspapers cost a single denarious (1d). When local communities were what that term really meant and neighbours or some of them were truly their brothers` keepers. When shame of transgressing in many forms really did act as a deterrent to misdemeanours and more serious acts of local disapproval. With over a million cases annually passing through magistrates courts very few are considered worthy of local reporting by newspaper editors or their financially pressed owners. Instead when apparently atrocious decisions are reached in the courts it`s more likely that dissemination of the cases is spread by social media with all the accuracy and (m)objectivity such media offer to those with the time and the wit to provide an opinion. Indeed the Law Society Gazette last week published a very interesting article on court reporting.
Thankfully notwithstanding the above there are still some reports of the magistrates courts up and down the country. And there are still some cases where the defining object seems to be that all steps must be taken so that as few offenders as possible are subject to immediate custody however much the facts of the case seem to point unhesitatingly in that direction.
An officer of Staffordshire Constabulary was found guilty after a two day trial of common assault following which he was found guilty of misconduct at a public hearing chaired by the force`s Chief Constable but allowed to keep his job. Such lenient decisions are sure to undermine public confidence within the country. No shame, no deterrence and yet there is wonder in high places why respect for the uniform is failing.
Until 15-20 years ago suspended sentences were not very common. Then the law changed in parallel with the cost of keeping convicts in jail becoming a hot political topic and the increasing discomfiture within and without parliament of the annual rises in custodial sentences almost overwhelming the prison system. According to all guidance given to magistrates a custodial sentence could be suspended only when the custody threshold had been reached. That instruction fell upon the deaf ears of some magistrates and certainly many probation officers who saw a suspended sentence as one level below certain immediate jail time. Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBO) have been the subject here previously my opinion being that they should be titled for accuracy as criminal displacement orders. They are civil orders the breach of which is a criminal offence. Indeed I sat on the first such case in the country and because its terms were not met by the prosecution it was thrown out. When a magistrates court sentences an offender to 40 weeks inside it is a matter of note considering that only about 3% of all cases in those courts receive an immediate custodial sentence. It is somewhat against the grain when 40 weeks custodial, a very severe sentence, is suspended. What does that do for public confidence in our courts? Consider also that the offending was in public.
Crown Court judgements naturally receive more coverage than the lower courts but the single sentencer, the judge, also has the Sentencing Guidelines to follow plus the unwritten advice concerning our overcrowded prisons. Critics of comments such as those here maintain that without full knowledge of a court`s proceedings remarks on sentencing are without foundation. Unsurprisingly I disagree. The alternative is silence. As this case shows it is truly shocking that apart from any mitigation by the defence such an offender committing such an offence should not escape immediate custody. To the general public as per the article headline he has avoided jail. When the state fails to act in accordance with natural justice that justice and its proponents are devalued and a sense of vigilantism creeps in to the dismay of all who hope some sense of society still remains in our psyche.
A similar case in Hartlepool shows that there is a deficit in government thinking brought about by a continual failure to provide required funding for the Ministry of Justice currently a little over £9 billion.
The problem is an unrecognised national carbuncle on the arse of justice. Readers will see a similar dereliction of catering for the public good in this case.
There is no doubt that below the public consciousness budgets like that are of little significance to public and Treasury when NHS, Education, Defence and Social Security hit all the headlines. However like the Titanic it`s what is below the waterline which most effectively defines whether a ship (and its passengers) or a nation sinks or swims to safety.
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