STICKING PLASTER POLICIES

The fiasco at the MOJ regarding the award of a new contract for interpreter services to a twopenny   halfpenny company only to be sold on a couple of weeks later to Capita plc was our first insight into the total incompetence of those senior civil servants at Petty France.  Their public humiliation at the hands of the Public Accounts Committee is a most enduring piece of fly on the wall T.V. and is even more entertaining than the fictional “Yes Minister”.  Of even more significance is the report in the Law Society Gazette in which the Permanent Secretary admits that no research was done into the effects which would follow cuts to civil legal aid.

The failings over the last four years at the MOJ and the Home Office must surely reach back to the occupant at number 10.  But hold on!   All the good old British public is concerned with is its free at the point of use NHS.  So come next May all will be well with that extra £2 billion while the core of our society is held together with sticking plaster.

I WILL DO RIGHT TO ALL MANNER OF PEOPLE

Unlike that hallowed organisation the NHS the majority of the population has no contact with “Justice”.  And those who do, especially within the criminal division, do not deserve public sympathy. At least that must be the thinking behind the coalition`s decision making since 2010 culminating in LASPO which further removed state aid to those faced with prosecution.  The very concept of treating the civil justice system as a business which should pay for itself and even be profitable is an abomination.  Grayling and his cohorts have ravaged and are ravaging what was arguably one of the fairest justice systems  in operation anywhere.  Now it appears that senior figures are beginning to rise above the battlements in what might be judicially described as opposition.

The mutiny in the prison trial has ended in ignominy for Genghis  Grayling.  The judicial review goings on in parliament show that this government has lost all moral sense.  Control control control..........that seems to be the mantra.  Fewer represented defendants in the magistrates` courts will lead to increased conviction of parties bereft of legal representation.  Legal advisors are there to assist such people but IMHO we J.P.s must become more pro active when circumstances demand otherwise we could be complicit in convicting those where the evidence fails to reach the required threshold.  When such a defendant fails to ask that most obvious (to us) question when cross examining a witness are we to sit shtoom in the name of being impartial or are we to assist in the levelling of the judicial playing field?  It is inevitable that such considerations are going to enter the minds of all of us if they haven`t already.  I referred in my last post that my decisions in court do not keep me awake at night.  On the same basis I prefer to level the playing field if such levelling contributes to the enactment in practice of    “I, _________ , do swear by Almighty God that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth the Second in the office of ________ , and I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill will.”

SOUND SLEEPER

It`s been quite some time since I`ve sat in a breach and/or sentencing court.  With all the hoo ha over the reorganisation shambles at  probation services and desperate press releases from the MOJ   I was quite unsure of the quality of PSRs we would be reading that morning.  We had three such in front of us one of which was so disjointed, illogical and grammatically inept that we had to make a statement that the writer (from a judicial area in another part of the country) be advised that its content was next to useless in its contradictory conclusions.  That didn`t go down well with one of our regular probation officers in the well of the court.   

There has been and  is IMHO a considerable amount of political lobbying surrounding the subject of domestic violence and its outcomes.  Combine that with the current fashion for victim orientated sentencing and we are beginning to resemble an embryonic Sharia law approach to the topic.  All we need is the concept of blood money to be refined for our English purposes.  We had two bail decisions on such matters and for one of them we decided to remove conditions imposed by police and to allow unconditional until next appearance.  All members of the bench were of the same mind.  Nevertheless during the post court review we were advised by our very efficient L/A that when he made his regular report that decision would be highlighted as would be our reasons for acting against what seem to be unwritten protocols.  Such decisions are probably the most difficult that a bench can make but I`m a sound sleeper and as I usually do I slept like a baby that night.

SCOTLAND THE BRAVE

I have blogged from time to time on illegal alcohol sales to children and the dearth of convictions under s.146.  I have also commented from time to time that in many respects the legal system in Scotland is more responsive and more equitable in its application of existing or new legislation to meet changing circumstances.  Recent experiences have reinforced that conviction.

I recently spent some time north of the border and not unnaturally spent a few moments or two having a bevy in a local hostelry accompanied by my niece who is a graceful 22 year old with the beauty and innocent charm of a cherub obviously inherited from her mother who is not my blood relative. Having ordered my large Highland Park my niece requested a single of the same bottle.  The very pleasant landlord asked her for I.D. even although she was accompanied by her wizened grey haired uncle who vouched for her mature years at least as far as the purchase of alcohol was concerned.  All this was to no avail as she did not have her driving license or any other age identifier on her person.  On serving her a diet coke the landlord explained that it was not worth risking his license in such a circumstance.  In 2012, as he explained, supermarket giant Asda had its alcohol licence suspended for 24 hours following a test purchase sting in 2012 and as a consequence he followed the rules explicitly; no I.D.: no alcohol served.

This time next week Scotland`s new limits on drink driving become law. Permitted alcohol level is being cut from 80mg to 50mg in every 100ml of blood.  Personally I would argue for a zero limit but Scotland`s brave example shows what a justice ministry can do when it is not rampaging down a headlong course to impose its occupant`s desire to destroy all that the word justice means.

J.P.s SHOULD BE CIRCUMSPECT IN THEIR PUBLIC COMMENTS

The Ministry of Justice and its various mouthpieces are never slow in letting it be known from all available rooftops that this or that initiative will provide more efficient whatever at reduced cost thus benefitting all of us taxpayers.......Lo! and the water was turned into wine thus reducing the catering bill at Petty France.

Civil servants will say whatever their masters instruct but Justices of the Peace are above politics in their primary function as judicial office holders.  For a Bench Chairman to comment in the press on the advantages of  the amalgamation of two benches, insofar as most colleagues whilst appreciating the financial requirements imposed by “austerity” would argue that these supposed benefits are unlikely to cover court users of all shades,  is IMHO a step too far in playing favours to government.  To quote a section of comment by the newly elected Bench Chairman of South Cumbria area; Ms Farmer said: "Our aim will be to combine the benches in a way that users of the courts in Kendal and Barrow see no change in the service we provide whilst improving the co-ordination and efficiency of the arrangements across the south of the county”.  

 I would argue that such comments are the prerogative of the HMCTS mouthpiece in the area and whether or not her colleagues agree or were consulted prior to her interview she would have been wiser to have held  her tongue.