ARE IDENTITY CARDS DEAD AND BURIED?

Almost seven years ago after Labour was thrown out of government the decision to impose identity cards for all was rescinded by Mrs T. May the new Home Secretary. Libertarians and perhaps many others not so single minded about retaining their privacy in an increasingly big brother state were extremely pleased at that announcement. Identity Cards for all, a policy so fervently espoused by successive Labour Home Secretaries, are now history or so we hope but the problem of privacy for the citizen didn`t begin in this century.

In late December 2008 I was sitting on a case where a driver had refused to give his details when required by a police officer. For a reason now forgotten during this hearing we had some "downtime" and were in the retiring room where on impulse I looked at the bound annual copies of "The Justice of the Peace" on the bookshelf. I chose to look at the edition of 1908 and found the page for the same December date of that year. And there it was in black and white Edwardian prose; the case law where a driver on the request of a police constable was required to give his name and address. Licenses to drive were for the future. A gentleman had been motoring through Hyde Park and for whatever reason refused to give his details to the constable when asked. The case duly reached a higher level where it was decided that a constable had the right to demand a driver`s name and address.

In the seven years since Labour`s loss of power our security situation has changed.  It would be foolish to think that there will be no repeat of the Westminster terrorist murders in future.  In some quarters there are whispers of resurrecting the issue of identity cards for all.   Of course we won`t hear anything of this in the next seven weeks but later..........?

BE A J.P. IN WIGAN

There is a shortage of magistrates in Wigan.  The local paper has published the following statement from Liz Truss to encourage applicants.  I wonder how much is still applicable to today`s situation. 

The Lord Chancellor Liz Truss said: “The involvement of lay people - recruited from a cross-section of our society - is a central principle in the administration of justice. It helps safeguard our citizens, with crucial decisions affecting an individual’s liberty being decided not by officials of the state - but by an independent bench of trained magistrates drawn from the local community. Our judiciary is amongst the most respected and independent in the world - part of a justice system that is widely admired at home and abroad.”

The Lord Chancellor Liz Truss said: “The involvement of lay people - recruited from a cross-section of our society - is a central principle in the administration of justice. It helps safeguard our citizens, with crucial decisions affecting an individual’s liberty being decided not by officials of the state - but by an independent bench of trained magistrates drawn from the local community. Our judiciary is amongst the most respected and independent in the world - part of a justice system that is widely admired at home and abroad.”

Read more at: http://www.wigantoday.net/news/crime/appeal-for-magistrates-due-to-volunteers-shortage-1-8505905

The Lord Chancellor Liz Truss said: “The involvement of lay people - recruited from a cross-section of our society - is a central principle in the administration of justice. It helps safeguard our citizens, with crucial decisions affecting an individual’s liberty being decided not by officials of the state - but by an independent bench of trained magistrates drawn from the local community. Our judiciary is amongst the most respected and independent in the world - part of a justice system that is widely admired at home and abroad.”

Read more at: http://www.wigantoday.net/news/crime/appeal-for-magistrates-due-to-volunteers-shortage-1-8505905

BEFORE OUR VERY EYES

Yesterday I posted on the apparent lack of local knowledge shown by the Appeal Court in a case of dangerous driving. Today in the Telegraph the opposite appears to be the case with a crown court judge who has placed a spurious exaggerated defence of a twice convicted drunk driver ahead of the public interest.  Such cases happen daily but only a few can be reported to a wider audience.  Of course the results of all criminal cases are available in a statistical form.  This allows the general nature of our courts system to be commented upon but it bears no reality for those involved either practically or intellectually. 

In magistrates` courts arguments, as in today`s case, are often based upon exceptional circumstances in an attempt for totters to retain their driving licenses with 12 penalty points or more  having accrued.  Generally the arguments are similar to those in this much more serious example.  Perhaps there are judges who really are detached from the public perception of their decisions.  Perhaps judges should not allow public perceptions to influence their decision making.  Somewhere along that slippery gradient and notwithstanding Sentencing Guidelines there is a gap. Perhaps if there were the requisite financing of our courts the CPS could be mandated to challenge any such sentencing decision as a matter of course filtered through specified considerations. All I would say now is that decisions within and surrounding our courts are costing us the justice we deserve,  as the magician says,  before your very eyes.

EX CHAIRMAN OF BRADFORD BENCH CASTIGATES APPEAL COURT

Lesson one for new magistrates:- do not talk to the media.  It`s that simple. Of course there are so called rules which define the limits of expressing opinions to same but those who`ve been around for a while understand that unless you were in Kingston or Barry or similar situations and your court was being closed and you vented a portion of your spleen to the local journal the chances were that you would be brought before the headmaster and duly chastised.  So often it is the retired J.P. who makes known his/her opinion on a legal topic in the press, TV or social media. Thus it is that the former Chairman of the Bench in Bradford has castigated the Appeal Court for second guessing an original sentence passed by  HHJ Roger Thomas QC the Honorary Recorder of Bradford.The offender`s sentence was reduced from 6 months to 4 months custody.

Ms Carroll is a wise and experienced individual.  There are many more of her ilk active and retired.  More of them should speak up when the situation demands.  Justices of the Peace are told that they are full members of the judiciary (junior branch). But they are a race apart.  They are volunteers with incomes derived outwith the MOJ.  They are often experienced professionals or tradespeople in their own right. Yet they are treated as little better than school children by the authorities in their ivory tower in Petty France controlled by an increasingly reactionary Ministry of Justice which appears at times more interested in its press releases than common sense in trying to remember when the British justice system was held in such high regard world wide.  Would that were the case now notwithstanding the opportunities afforded by Brexit.

A LORD CHANCELLOR AND A JUSTICE SECRETARY

One sure result of the election will surely be the appointment of a new Secretary of State for Justice.  Perhaps in view of recent controversy a separate position of Lord Chancellor will be re - established.

ACCEPTABLE COMMENTS IN 1957

This report of a case at a magistrates` court in 1957 quotes the words of the presiding magistrate or "stipe"...we don`t know which.  I wonder whether such comments would pass today without reprimand from those in authority. 

CBOs TAKE THE BISCUIT

For the most part, criminal behaviour orders are just another way of avoiding the reality that some offenders who are not being put away should be put away.  When every trick and turn considered to be acceptable to a sceptical public has been exhausted the bright young things at the MOJ offer ever more suggestions on how to run a service to protect that public and simultaneously reduce its reliance on incarceration whilst upping custodial limits in  Sentencing Guidelines.  Seems to me that having a custodial cake whilst eating it  hasn`t succeeded in the past and won`t succeed now.  To expand the metaphor this example takes the biscuit.

ONE RULE FOR THEM AND ANOTHER FOR US

Prior to the final decision on which magistrates` courts were to be closed many Bench chairmen made themselves available to the media to argue their case for their court to be excused execution. Whether or not their efforts were against the spirit of the rules on media guidance is not for me to say but lest there be any doubt, up to date guidance is that  magistrates who are considering writing to a newspaper might "wish to let a colleague read your draft before submitting for publication”. And then again you might not……… 

In general J.P.s are treated by the authorities as a headmaster might treat his pupils. Recently a J.P. was found guilty of serious misconduct owing to a house guest having been arrested on suspicion of harassment and being sent to prison. The J.P. failed to report these circumstances.  Around the same time last month after a J.P. entered the magistrates assembly room at Bedlington Magistrates’ Court when he was not sitting as a magistrate he had the judicial rule book thrown at him. What a disreputable way to behave!  "The Lord Chancellor and Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice, considered that his behaviour fell below the standards expected of a magistrate and have issued him with formal advice.”

There does indeed seem one rule for the higher judiciary and another for us:- the unpaid volunteers who deal with 95% of all criminal cases from beginning to end.

EQUALITY FOR WOMEN

A Scottish case but principle is universal........at least pre Brexit. Would the same logic have been provided if offender were male. And after Brexit and assuming Scotland in U.K. it would be British courts that would have the final jurisdiction; a situation with which I wholeheartedly agree. 

DRIVING THE POLICE JOB MARKET

Another wonderful expression in our modern English language from Police Professional.  Note the use of apostrophe.  Oh to be so politically correct and literally incorrect simultaneously. 
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