HMCTS DOES ITS OWN COURT REPORTS

I have previously more than once commented upon the dearth of local reports of the day to day happenings at Magistrates` Courts.  These posts have not been of universal condemnation and indeed almost a year ago it was a pleasure to praise one local newspaper for its court reports.  The important fact was that it was unbiased reporting by an independent newspaper.  Earlier this month on January 4th I commented that court reports of the events within West Susses local justice area, namely  for cases sentenced by West Sussex Magistrates’ Court sitting at Worthing and South East Hampshire Magistrates’ Court sitting at Portsmouth from December 19 to 23, 2016 were direct press releases from HMCTS. I also made comments re the newly appointed CEO of that organisation on Twitter.  Despite a Tweet from that new broom at HMCTS that I would be given an explanation for this subtle change in supposed news reports nothing was heard.  Recently the Worthing Herald published another press release as news, of cases sentenced also at West Sussex Magistrates` Court this time sitting at  Worthing in addition to cases from S.E. Hampshire Magistrates` Court sitting at Portsmouth. 

There is no doubt in my mind that in sending out press releases to anyone who subscribes for them the Ministry of Justice or Her Majesty`s Courts and Tribunal Service are offering information which can be used or discarded as appropriate for the subscriber.  However when such information is published in a newspaper the ramifications are quite different.  The information is not colated by a third party publisher.  Complaints or otherwise would rightly be directed at the editor/publisher.  It is the thin edge of a long thick wedge for HMCTS to take advantage of local news medias` shortage of staff and revenue to offer this page filling content. Reports could conceivably be less than strictly accurate or tailored to be approved by some government authority for for any nefarious purpose.  Such interference with "news" in this fashion must be opposed.

cases sentenced by West Sussex Magistrates’ Court sitting at Worthing and South East Hampshire Magistrates’ Court sitting at Portsmouth from January 16 to 20, 2017.

Read more at: http://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/crime/hm-courts-service-results-list-for-january-16-to-20-2017-1-7794793

cases sentenced by West Sussex Magistrates’ Court sitting at Worthing and South East Hampshire Magistrates’ Court sitting at Portsmouth from January 16 to 20, 2017.

Read more at: http://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/crime/hm-courts-service-results-list-for-january-16-to-20-2017-1-7794793

cases sentenced by West Sussex Magistrates’ Court sitting at Worthing and South East Hampshire Magistrates’ Court sitting at Portsmouth from January 16 to 20, 2017.

Read more at: http://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/crime/hm-courts-service-results-list-for-january-16-to-20-2017-1-7794793

GOVERNMENTS` COMMON SENSE//I`M HAVING A LAUGH

I considered whether another offender stealing to fund a drug habit was worth reporting.  I decided that such daily occurrences at every Magistrates` Court not being available in nicely wrapped statistical bundles to be used as "evidence"  to argue for the forcible incarceration of such offenders I would risk boring my reader with yet another such report.  Surely the day must come when we stop imprisoning addicts for a few weeks for assault or shoplifting etc and try to cure them.  The advantages are obvious; fewer convicts, long term reduction in costs and a safer society.  Forget even de-criminalisation. It is just senseless to continue on the current path. I`m having a laugh. On second thoughts rarely do governments act from common sense.

WHY NO TOMMY ATKINS J.P.?

It is yesterday`s news that there are about half the number of active Justices of the Peace today as there were about a decade ago.  The reasons for the decline are many,  but fewer court appearances by offenders, fewer magistrates` courts, reduced morale amongst J.P.s leading to increased resignations, increasing age profile and fewer applications are perhaps the obvious.  

During my time on the bench it was IMHO significant how varied was its composition. Bus drivers, business people, academics, musicians, medics & dentists, teachers, lawyers, jewellers, estate agents, taxi drivers, managers both in industry and civil service, housewives and nurses, retired police officers and many others.  As far as I am aware there was not a single former military person on my bench which numbered 300.  I suppose the reason for this apparent lack of a unique professional profile was either such people did not apply or that in doing so they were not considered suitable material. 

Such an omission has been referred to by one of our law makers; Oliver Colvile M.P. whose voting preferences are available here. He doesn`t seem to be a long distance from those that the Prime Minister termed the nasty party in her previous political life. In yesterday`s debate he made the following statement, " I encourage the justice system to make greater use of people who have served in the military as magistrates. That would be incredibly helpful, because at least they have some idea of what happens—"   What he meant  by that last phrase only he might know.  The full debate is available here. 

The two recent mind blowing election results bring to the fore the question whether indeed our legislators actually know much of what they talk about.  Skilled interviewers, many working for BBC, demonstrate often all too clearly that unless many M.P.s  regurgitate well rehearsed nuances and phrases they are out of their depth in many topics.  The legal and political debacle following the referendum is a mark of disgrace to all those who participated in its conception not excluding the former prime minister and all those supposedly clever draftsmen and civil servants involved in its formation, function, terminology and limitations.  A long term Brexiteer it is my opinion that these culpable individuals have left a legacy of quite unnecessary dislocation in the body politic which we will endure in all likelihood to our collective detriment for many many years. The tale of the M.P. above is just a single solitary sad example.

YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU

Occasionally I think this blog becomes too serious. Here`s some light relief although I think the song is  more pleasant than the case.

INCREASED MOTORING FINES//THEM AND US

I have previously criticised the principles underlying the Sentencing Council`s Guidelines for Magistrates` Courts insofar as they consist more or less of the much derided tick box method of imposing penalties.  This seems to be a dumbing down of the whole system  as it appears to accept that a lay bench [or District Judge] is not quite capable of using its own logical processes in coming to a decision appropriate to the facts before it. The watchword cited in favour of the Guidelines which are tending to increased prescription is the supposed avoidance of "post code sentencing" i.e. uniformity in sentencing is the watchword.  A similar argument has been used to describe treatments and outcomes within the NHS(postcode lottery). I would opine that all we want as individuals and as a society is the best outcome for each of us in our own individual circumstances. 

Notwithstanding the above there has been noticeable public disdain over the level of wages paid to Premier League footballers.  This has been tolerated owing to the popularity of football. However when those elite players enter an environment to which plebs can relate the attitude changes.  Media cannot usually report on the level of tips they give to waiters in expensive restaurants or the amount spent on grooming their dogs but media can report on the cars they drive and the penalties imposed in open court for motoring and other offences.  

Speeding, driving without due care and no insurance are amongst the commonest of motoring offences.  Until April 24th the latter two offences will still attract a maximum fine of £5000.  After that date courts will have the power to level unlimited fines which will also be available for drink driving. The days when £50,000 a week sports stars or city bankers and financiers can leave court having paid a morning`s wages as a fine will be over and a gawping public might feel that there is just a small narrowing of the gulf between "them and us". As Marx almost said "each according to his means".........Karl not Groucho.

TREATMENT OR JAIL FOR ADDICTED OFFENDERS?

From my earliest experiences on the bench I have been convinced that not only those whose criminal actions have been based upon addiction to alcohol or drugs would be better off in a compulsorily ordered medical environment but society in general and the public purse in particular would also benefit. The oft quoted comparisons that a prisoner in jail costs more per week than a schoolboy at Eton whilst not strictly accurate  serve to put the case in an easily understood context.  But it is not just the balance sheet presented to the tax payer and the Chancellor of the Exchequrer which ought to provide the momentum to effect change;  it is the outcome for society.  Addicted recidivists not only suffer themselves; their families are contaminated by the knock on effect of their addiction.  Partners are subjected to violence, children are scarred for life mentally if not physically and countless thousands of innocent law abiding people suffer actual or tangential effects for being in the wrong places at the wrong times. Not surprisingly I am also convinced that there must be de-criminalisation of drugs use despite the fears of well meaning experts about the long term possible damage from cannabis use. It is IMHO unlikely to be a subject for serious parliamentary debate until a party is elected with a manifesto commitment and such a clear majority that the passage of a bill to that effect would seem assured. But avoidance of the court process for addicts is a different matter and one more likely to command widespread support. Since the closure of what were known as lunatic asylums.....lunatic:original meaning as someone who went crazy with every phase of the moon: asylum: a health care facility providing inpatient and outpatient therapeutic services to clients with behavioural or emotional illnesses.....and referral to care in the community  the treatment and care of those with mental health problems has become a national disgrace. Indeed the rising numbers of deaths in custody are just the visible tip of this horrific iceberg. Whilst suicide rates in Great Britain are not of the levels* in Eastern Europe for each family involved it is a tragedy. However self inflicted deaths in custody including prison are at record levels.  It is unknown how many are drug related but only an ostrich would refuse to acknowledge that substance addiction is unrelated to such happenings. 

Last week as every week in most English Magistrates` Courts  an offender pleaded to be given a custodial sentence to enable him to overcome his drug habit.  The short sentence in prison resulting from his breach of a civil order will not cure him of his addiction. The medical and probation sevices are unable to cope.  The NHS is in crisis. Prisons are overcrowded to the point of chaos. Drugs and alcohol are as easily available as ever inside prison and out. Lobbyists are pressing for the abolition of short custodial sentences. MOJ budgets are not cut to the bone; they are cutting through the bone. The current methods and theories of  rehabilitation are failing the poorest.   As mentioned once previously here in a different context and attributed to Einstein but not verifiable, "insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".  By this definition our rulers are in need of treatment as much as if not more than any of us. 

*

HIS HONOUR`S TOLERANCE

An essential part of making a success as a bench chairman is one`s  colleagues having confidence in one`s  being able to control the court. Of course that is taking as a given having the required knowledge both in theory and practice. There are some  making clear their opinion especially on Twitter who consider that Justices of the Peace are under trained and who would prefer to see only professional single judges presiding over the lower court.   I have long held the opinion that just as one cannot consider every M.P. prime ministerial material or even worthy of cabinet membership or every colonel worthy of ascendancy to four star general however proficient his training one cannot train a bench chairman who hasn`t got within him/her the basic round personality to fit the round hole required. Judges by their very position do not require the confidence of their colleagues whilst actually in court. They sit alone and omnipotent unless their failings stimulate higher powers to take more than a passing interest. There are habits in all of us which in themselves might be minor but to those with whom we have regular contact  can be irritating or worse.  

On Tuesday I posted on the failure in my opinion of a crown court judge to assume the position of the keeper of order and decorum in his own court. It is therefore somewhat surprising to read that the self same judge in the self same court  is reported yesterday as having tolerated behaviour by a defendant which was arguably at the very least worthy of a short time in the cells to cool his demeanour instead of merely a warning.   That action of course would have delayed the proceedings and those following. Perhaps HH was conscious of his duty to HMCTS to avoid such delays. Did any person in the public gallery have an increased or reduced respect for the law and our judicial system by his forbearance? Judge Tabor is by all accounts an honoured and respected judge. He was appointed Honorary Recorder for Gloucester earlier this year.  I wonder if sitting as first amongst equals with a J.P. on either side  during a crown court appeal in similar circumstances  they would have felt his tolerance went too far.

THEFT OF DISCARDED FOOD

Here`s a forthcoming trial to exercise the little grey cells of the J.P.s who will be involved. It might also be a guide for others. Without delving into the legal minutiae  of theft it seems to this observer that the law is quite clear; the goods were the property of the supermarket irrespective of what it as the owner decided to do with them.  I suppose it comes down to the tabloids` view of the morality of the whole situation eg the sight of food banks no longer apparently being an unusual situation.  You pays your money, or in this case you don`t, and makes your choice.

COUNCIL TAX DEBT AND IMPRISONMENT

 Imprisonment of single mother over council tax debt unlawful – High Court

This is required reading for every magistrate and legal advisor.

ALMOST LOST FOR WORDS

Most officers of the court and especially those who sit on the bench are aware of and/or have used the disposal of detention within the court building as a means of punishment for certain minor offences as a parent  would send a child to bed early for misbehaviour.  It is almost but not quite impossible to understand the thinking processes of a vagrant who, offered the opportunity by Blackburn magistrates to rid himself of a £350 debt by remaining within the court`s precincts for two hours, rejected said offer:  `nuff said.