It seems that only after a general election gives us a new government that the MOJ has come under the spotlight of those who report our news. It`s not as if those heading our news media didn`t know of the perilous state of our inadequate, undisciplined, undermanned police force, our failing courts system and our Victorian age crumbling prisons; of course they knew but excepting where there was an atrocious event e.g. conviction of yet another police rapist, the live sentencing of yet another multiple murderer or a sex tape of a female prison officer offering her "services" to a convict other stories had priority.
The Tory Party used to be known as the party to be relied upon for law `n order or the party of the hangers `n floggers: not any more, indeed not for the last 14 years. Even in the last few years before my retirement under the "leadership" of that worthy David Cameron, magistrates were "advised" to follow many legal twists and turns to avoid sending offenders to immediate custody despite the fact that at most 4% of those convicted were sentenced in that manner. Now it is almost universally known that given no heavenly intervention England`s prisons within the next few weeks will not be just bursting at the seams; they will have collapsed as did the walls of Jericho. In 2021 magistrates courts` sentencing powers were increased to 12 months custody. Last year it was announced that the custodial limit will be reduced to the previous 6 months. This is very strange and without explanation. The Commons Justice Committee has questioned the motivation behind this action which is reminiscent of that grand old Duke of York. On 17th October 2023 I posted a fuller account of the push me pull me activities of the MOJ regarding the principle of magistrates courts` custodial sentencing powers. The current save the system antidote is to release convicted prisoners way ahead of any release date they could previously have hoped for. MOJ estimates are that 40,000 inmates would benefit leaving more rat infested cells for newcomers. These measures were requested in May but our previous prime minister vetoed that initiative for what we can all now see as pre planned removal of a likely electoral millstone around his neck. As almost a last resort it`s believed there are plans in place to cancel the outstanding custodial time remaining in theory of convicts released early on license with the result that individuals would be unable to be recalled if they breached licensing conditions.
If sentencing laws remain as they are now it`s estimated that there will be a need to accommodate 100,000 prisoners in 2025. The likelihood is that once again the argument to remove all custodial sentences at magistrates courts will become irrefutable. And once again the tail of past incompetence and expediency will wag the dog of a dispirited chaotic justice system.
14 years of this nation being governed by short sighted incompetent chickens is coming home to roost. Whilst so many of us apparently who are happy to spend hard earned ££££ on cars, holidays and the trappings of a good life refuse to contemplate paying a small fraction of their health care costs: whilst there seems to be a very contagious virus affecting the nation`s mental health individually and collectively: whilst the state continues to fund those who choose a life of indolence and pressures mount for the new government to make it harder for incompetents in a workforce to be sacked, this once thriving country will sink deeper into an economic and political abyss. The lesson of the decline and decline of Argentina should be a lesson for all. In 1913 Argentina was among the world's ten wealthiest states per capita. Beginning in the 1930s the Argentine economy deteriorated notably. 100 years later that country is still in turmoil. Its history should be a lesson to all of us but it won`t be on the Cabinet`s reading list. If the new PM does little else he must convince us that the euphemism of tightening our belts is a reality. I fear that like all those who reach Number 10 he will shilly shally and attempt to waltz around the root problems which are leading us from riches to rags; to penury and worse.
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