There
have been many occasions here when I have criticised, rightly IMHO, those
representing the magistracy as being ineffective status seekers who were more
or less lap dogs to government seemingly kowtowing with little resistance to
our downgrading by the weasels at HMCTS.
Well; it seems that the current chairman of the Magistrates Association
Richard Monkhouse has decided to bite back..........and not before time. Today`s Independent carries an article in
which he gives that oh so Liberal Simon Hughes, recently appointed Justice Minister,
some home truths although for a statistician I think he has his arithmetic
wrong by 16.5% but who am I to get the sums right with my A Level maths at only
a B.
“We
have the evidence that in the last 10 years we have reduced the proportion of
the prison population sentenced by magistrates from 6 per cent to 4 per cent.
That may not seem very much but that’s a 50 per cent reduction in the number of
people who aren’t going to prison who were going to prison 10 years ago.”
Anyway more of this sort of
combative argument is not before time.