AN ERA OF FEAR

Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action and asserted in his Inaugural Address, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  

Fear is a powerful motivator but it can also be crippling. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the fear of being a victim of crime. The reasons for this are so complex that analyses over the years have enabled many academics to write PhD after their names. Undoubtedly the confusion or government obfuscation over crime statistics has a part to play.  The general consensus is that crime has fallen this century but the interpretation of available information is more variable than the weather. However the myriad forms of criminals or criminality recorded or unrecorded by various agencies and institutions vary enormously in their frequency, tendency, locality, ethnicity etc. There are, however, some indisputable facts: this government has elevated the "victim" to the centre of the justice system, an action to which I have voiced my disagreement for many years here and elsewhere.  In addition by deliberate policy (denied by successive office holders at the MOJ) courts have been "advised" to find all alternatives to immediate custody in magistrates courts where once upon a time independent magistrates used their judgement honed over many years to sentence offenders without fear or favour. In 2005 a suspended sentence order was a new outcome available for sentencers.  Its importance [perhaps now overlooked by some] was that before it could be considered the custody threshold had had to be breached. An academic study is available here for more information. The introduction of Sentencing Guidelines around this time and the reducing independence of magistrates served to further the release into the community of those who would in previous years have served a jail sentence. One result is that fear of crime is now more common than ever before. Every day examples of poor judgement by magistrates admittedly under constrictions are reported in what is left of our printed local media. When those convicted of assault by beating in particular, an offence which often is downgraded from actual bodily harm, are escaping an immediate custodial sentence public faith in the justice system and increased fear amongst certain population groups is a not unexpected consequence.  Surprisingly I could not source an authoritative paper on fear of crime after 2017 when this highly academic study was published. However a cursory glance at local media anywhere in this country is highly revealing.  The examples to follow do not exist on their own.  Those responsible for sentencing (or others in court) are the only people who have heard all the evidence but that does not exclude commenters from offering opinions although as I have long predicted one day those proceedings in magistrates courts will be televised live. 

A conditional discharge was the result of this man`s offending. 

At Haverford West Magistrates Court the bench appeared to be in high spirits with their generous dispensations.   So much for the "Sword of Damocles" attitude by some magistrates who believe the threat of custody is enough of a deterrent for many. It isn`t. 

A final example is here of why so many people have little faith in a justice system where it is fact that so many deserving of immediate custody remain at large in the community. Note the final paragraphs re sentencing. 

 "Coe was sentenced to a 12-month community order, during which he must carry out 20 rehabilitation requirement days. He was ordered to pay £150 compensation to the victim and was fined £120 with £85 court costs."

"The offences were committed whilst Coe was serving a conditional discharge for a previous conviction of possessing a Class B drug."

"For breaching the sentence, he was fined an additional £80 and ordered to pay a £114 court surcharge."

"He was also handed a two-year restraining order which prevents him from contacting the victim."

It is at the base of a pyramid that over time  cracks lead to a failure in the whole structure.  Keeping murderers and terrorists in jail for scores of years might hit the headlines.  However being severely assaulted or damaged in other ways leads many innocent people to lose faith in justice and those who purport to protect them. This is highlighted especially when the offenders, supported by spurious sociologists and similar, mock and deride opponents to such thinking as "hangers and floggers". Having a so called victims at the centre of justice  policy helps nobody.  It devalues the principles of a system which should be neutral in balancing the traditional scales of justice.  

When a society is gripped by fear, real or imagined, it paves the way for authoritarian  disguised as protectionist government policies to become acceptable to a population desperate for comfort whether from criminals, immigrants or purported climate change.  This is the era through which we are living right now.