A MOCKERY OF JUSTICE

First there was ASBO and ASBO begat CRASBO and from its loins there came landlord banning orders, drink banning orders, football banning orders et als.  However it must not be overlooked that there are also for one`s delectation  non-molestation orders, occupation orders and restraining orders for those inclined to a soupçon of domestic violence.  These are civil orders the breach of which is a criminal offence triable in the magistrates or crown court where offenders face a custodial sentence.  The numbers of such orders are not public knowledge.  A Freedom of Information Request has been refused on the grounds of costs of retrieving such information.  The standard such response to refuse an application is "I can confirm the MoJ holds all of the information you have requested. However, to provide this as the request currently stands would exceed the cost limit set out in the FOIA. Section 12(1) of the FOIA means a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if it estimates the cost of complying would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3.5 working days determining whether the department holds the information and locating, retrieving and extracting the information."  However in view of the vast scope under which such orders can be made it is not unreasonable in my opinion to suggest that the number must run into six figures annually.  The logical next step in considering the efficiency of banning orders, i.e. their effectivity, is again a matter of conjecture owing to the lack of public information of subsequent breaches of orders and the consequent punishment handed out to offenders. 

I cannot help but, drinking from the cup of cynicism, thinking that at the bottom of these law making and sentencing exercises lies but a single objective of reducing costs.  Unless and until the Ministry of Justice publishes actual numbers we will never know.  What we do know and every magistrate and criminal lawyer will know is that the apparatus  of banning orders is so often so ineffective that the law in its inaction makes a mockery of justice per se. Here is just a single example from a single court on a single day last week.