MORE ON SINGLE JUSTICE PROCEDURE

Almost half a million cases at magistrates courts are dealt with in private. It`s called the Single Justice Procedure. At the very least justice is not seen to be done. At worst it forms a basis on which a future government of a more authoritarian bent could extend this process and that is a road where blackness looms.

Below is from Hansard 

Judicial Review and Courts Bill

26 Oct 2021

Dominic Raab: ...introduce measures that use new technology to streamline procedures to strip out unnecessary in-person hearings and create more efficient processes for allocation of cases in the Crown court and the magistrates court. That will enable swifter resolution of low-level offences such as travelling on a train without a ticket or fishing without a licensed rod without the need for the time and...

magistrates : 1 Written Answer

Written Answers - Ministry of Justice: Reoffenders

26 Oct 2021

James Cartlidge: For the year ending March 2021, approximately 670 defendants were dealt with at the magistrates’ courts under SJP where the offence was deemed ‘recordable on the PNC’, which makes up 0.1% of the total defendants dealt with via SJP in that period (489,910). We are unable to say how many of these defendants were convicted of the recordable offence without incurring a disproportionate cost.

MAGISTRATES ASSOCIATION REVEALS ITS WOKE APPROACH TO JUSTICE

The Kingdom of England can arguably be stated as having been founded in the last century of the first millennium perhaps a century after the founding of the northern part of the British Isles known as Scotland.  The 13th century saw the incorporation of Wales into the Kingdom of England. The Kingdom of Ireland was brought under English control between 1541 and 1691. A sixteenth century royal marriage led to the Union of the Crowns in 1603 and the Kingdom of Great Britain was created in 1707 leading to the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.  The establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 led to the current designation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927.  The underlying political sentiments of those involved particularly for the last 200 years have been that there is much more that unites us than divides us.  That is until the latter part of the last century.  Whether by benign neglect or the emergence of an anti colonialism mind set in Scotland and Ireland separatism as a target began to take hold in some philosophical/historical  minds and actions within both nations.  The modern tragedy of Irish nationalism is still with us and the Scots seem to be plunging deeper and deeper into a death wish of economic turbulence and possible collapse. So what has this to do with a blog written by a retired magistrate with an interest in justice and the law?  In the last few weeks the Magistrates Association has been following a singularly IMHO divisive line of its thinking as indicated by its Tweets. 

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

 

·

11 Oct

It’s National Coming Out Day! Our LGBT+ Diversity and Inclusion Network provides a safe space for LGBT+ magistrates to discuss any issues which may affect them in court, as well champion equality and respect within the justice system

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

 

·

#BlackHistoryMonth recommended reading: Influential Black Britons illustrated book (published by UK Parliament). This resource lists individuals who have impacted UK laws and equal rights. Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince, Claudia Jones, Lord Learie Constantine, Bernie Grant… (2/20)

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

11 Oct

It’s National Coming Out Day! Our LGBT+ Diversity and Inclusion Network provides a safe space for LGBT+ magistrates to discuss any issues which may affect them in court, as well champion equality and respect within the justice system. Find out more at - https://magistrates-association.org.uk/What-We-Do/MA-

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

 

·

2 Aug

Over on the

@JudiciaryUK

Instagram, Dan, our trustee and deputy chair of our LGBT+ Special Interest Group, talks about the importance of having a diverse magistracy and some of the transferable skills magistrates gain that can be so valuable to employers.

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

 

·

27 Jul

Knife crime is a serious problem but there is no robust evidence that stop and search is the answer, while it could further damage the trust and confidence that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities have in the justice system.

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

 

·

16 Jul

The MA’s disproportionality presentation provides information about the disproportionate over-representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in the youth justice system, and what magistrates can do to address this in and out of the courtroom.

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

 

·

16 Jul

It is encouraging that 18% of new magistrates are under 40, though there is still work to be done to attract more volunteers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

 

·

14 Jul

‘Must-Listen-To’ Claxon: Hear MA board member & chair of our Young Magistrates Group,

@lukerigg

, talk on

@BBCRadio4

#FourThought about what it’s like to be a young magistrate, and why having more will improve justice. Luke you were excellent

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

 

·

9 Jul

Modelling for raising the retirement age to 75 projected that there will be 0.8% fewer BAME magistrates in any given year than at present. The MA has called for this impact on diversity to be mitigated by recruitment specifically targeting under-represented groups.

Magistrates Association

@MagsAssoc

 

·

29 Jun

'There is certainly no such thing as your stereotypical magistrate'.

Some retweets..

Magistrates Association Retweeted

 

Mawia Bin-Sufyan MStJ BCA

@MoawiaBinSufyan

 

·

19 Jun

Joining colleagues from across the UK for the

@MagsAssoc

inaugural meeting of the Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority Special Interest Group. Speakers included the MA Chair

@BevHiggs

and new CEO @TomFranklinUK

Dan, MA trustee and deputy chair of our LGBT+ Special Interest Group, speaks to

@JudiciaryUK

as part of #PrideMonth

 

What those tweets indicate to me is that the Magistrates Association following the many examples of woke inspired separatism is functioning in the mistaken belief that representation of all manor of variations in the make up of society provides a better quality of justice for all those who come to court. In simple terms the so called life truths of a bench are more likely to  provide outcomes which suit the individual`s circumstances than the intellectual challenge of weighing up evidence so that the facts of a case are teased from all that the court must consider in coming to its conclusion. The practices of the M.A. in having sub committees for some of the very varied groupings in our society is inimitable to the cohesion which binds together those very same groupings. Undue emphasis on "diversity" risks a mockery of the judicial oath; “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 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." [my bold]. There will be those who will retort that it takes eg a "life truth" of living as an impoverished or racially abused member of a minority group to understand and appreciate circumstances of any offender`s particular actions but from my experience much thinking along those lines is in direct contradiction of the last eight words of the oath above. The continued emphasis on recruitment to supposedly represent society does no favour for selecting the best people to be sitting in judgement on their fellow citizens. For example in Bradford where the ethnic composition is that the largest religious group  is Christian (45.9% of the population) and nearly one quarter of the population (24.7%) is Muslim is that to be the target by the advisory committee charged with appointment of magistrates? 20.7% of Bradford citizens self declare that they do not follow a religion. Are they too to be represented on the Bench in that proportion?


When I was appointed in 1997 a question on the application form was for the applicant to state which political party benefited from his/her vote at the previous general election. I left it unanswered. In due course I received a letter enclosing my application telling me that unless I resubmitted the form with every question answered my application would not be considered. I duly filled in the name of the political party for which I had voted. That question was omitted from the form a few years later. The powers that be no longer want to know who their applicants vote for but now do want to know so much more about the essence of their very being.


All this might be considered under the term "woke or not woke". When universities and many institutions are afraid to issue firm declarations to students and others who foster hate at those whose opinions they oppose, who ignore antisemitism propagated at all levels of our society in the guise of "anti Zionism" there is a fear pervading many to whom society has bestowed influence that speaking out about any topic which questions current societal  mores is a career and/or reputation breaker. In simple terms it`s called self censorship. When fear is the basis of the way we conduct our daily lives proto fascism is appearing over the political horizon. Unfortunately the Magistrates Association is slowly but surely being dragged into this cultural morass.

THE KING OF THE WORLD AT NUMBER 10

Since 1945 the Chancellors of Germany have been significant in the development of this country and its relationships with mainland Europe.  From   Konrad Adenauer (1949–63),  Ludwig Erhard (1963–66), Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1966–69),  Willy Brandt (1969–74),  Helmut Schmidt,(1974–82), Helmut Kohl (1982–98),  Gerhard Schröder (1998–2005) to Angela Merkel (2005– 2021) the last named perhaps more familiar than the others owing to her historical proximity and her distance from the ravages of 1933-1945. It was 2014 when despite the entreaties of the then prime minister David Cameron she refused to concede to him some very simple even basic steps to enable him to tell the British electorate that this country had secured at least a token of independence from some of the strictures imposed by the European Union. And this inability to negotiate a get out of jail free card begot the referendum and the referendum begot a most divisive fissure in the British political system in the post war era. The current government with its huge majority, led by the man who would be king of the world, has since 2019 tried to usurp the will of Parliament only to be stymied by the decisions of the Supreme Court. More than once he has conveyed his opinion that the Court was interfering in what were political decisions.  It seems that the new Lord Chancellor following in the footsteps of his master like a well trained puppy has expressed his master`s voice in that " A  'mechanism' to allow the government to introduce ad hoc legislation to correct court judgements that ministers believe are 'incorrect' will form part of proposals to reform the Human Rights Act".  Whilst such UK enacted legislation might not necessarily be to the detriment  of UK citizens he made clear that "Where there have been judgements that, albeit properly and duly delivered by the courts, we think are wrong,(my bold) the right thing is for Parliament to legislate to correct them."  This intention is nothing but the first tentative footstep to disavowing the very basis on which this country is governed; ie by the rule of law where no person, organisation or political party is above the law.  In some respects this would be unelected king sits in Downing Street largely because his 2019 opponent was an antisemitic Marxist whom the nation rightly rejected.  Imagine for one moment if he were in number 10 and his  Lord Chancellor the equally antisemitic.........oops anti Zionist Marxist Richard Burgon were to have made such a declaration.  There would have been outrage but the Tory press and a supine Cabinet have remained largely silent. The Prime Minister tries to disguise this whole charade by exclaiming that this process will restore the rights of Parliament. To be polite this is poppycock in my opinion. The earliest signs of an authoritarian regime  or one that is progressing along that road is to enact legislation to insulate itself from criticism followed by active steps to control and finally eliminate that criticism.  From Attila the Hun to Adolf Hitler via Genghis Khan and countless others the same formula is followed to ensure obedience to rule by decree; hamstring the judicial system and cow the judges.  A brief glance at the situation in Hong Kong over the last two years provides an example of how quickly the rule of law can be subverted to the rule of political authority. 

What these proposals are of course intended to do is to further insulate the executive organs of the state from the burden of complying with the law, as of course put in place by, err, Parliament.  With Parliament and particularly the House of Commons enjoying a brief period of respect after the murder of one of its own there is no doubt that those who enabled Johnson to his present position are first and foremost tasked with securing their own and their party`s re-election.  Until and unless Her Majesty`s Loyal Opposition is capable of providing an alternative we might in the next couple of years look back at 2016 as the worst event since 1939. 

11 YEARS ON AND NOTHING MUCH HAS CHANGED

The Law Gazette`s comments page on extending the sentencing powers of magistrates courts has as expected produced the same old arguments that one reads almost annually when this proposal gets a public airing. The usual  people respond that the best way to serve justice is to remove entirely the powers of magistrates courts to use custody as a sentencing option. Earlier this week The Guardian had published this.  A new Lord Chancellor has already in his short time in office come out with the usual platitudes.  No doubt there will be more to come.   A looming financial crisis is once again going to be an excuse for delaying the much needed finance to reduce the abysmally long delays especially in the crown courts. All this hoo ha reminded me of a post I wrote almost exactly 11 years ago on 20th October 2010. I think it might jog a few memories and even be instructive if I copy it below in full.

 

 QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE/SHORT SENTENCES

by TheJusticeofthePeace @ 20. Oct. 2010. – 12:52:52

A question and answer session yesterday with Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke on short sentences at Magistrates` Courts is worth copying here below.

Short Custodial Sentences
Oral Answers to Questions — Justice
House of Commons debates, 19 October 2010, 2:30 pm

Next debate » « Previous debate All Commons debates on 19 Oct 2010

Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles, Labour)

What recent discussions he has had with the Sentencing Guidelines Council on its guidance on short custodial sentences.

Kenneth Clarke (Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State, Justice; Rushcliffe, Conservative)

The Sentencing Guidelines Council has not issued any specific guidance on short custodial sentences. We have had no discussions with the council on this topic, which we are considering as part of our assessment of sentencing policy.

Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles, Labour)

The Secretary of State may be aware of a recent case in my constituency in which a young man suffering from autism and Asperger's syndrome was subjected to a series of horrific attacks by three other young men. The judge said that the attacks could almost amount to torture, yet the three perpetrators were given community orders. During the general election, Mr Cameron, now the Prime Minister, told the country that we are not convicting enough. He then explicitly said that

"when we do convict them, they're not getting long enough sentences."

Just two weeks ago, in his speech to the Conservative party conference, the Prime Minister said that

"offenders who should go to prison will go to prison".

I agree with the Prime Minister-does the Secretary of State?

Kenneth Clarke (Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State, Justice; Rushcliffe, Conservative)

One of the failings of the last Government was to take a popular subject from the popular press and make rather shallow partisan points out of it. Sentencing in individual cases is not a matter for Ministers, and should not be a matter for sensational comment to the newspapers by Ministers with the frequency that it was. We have to ensure that justice is done, particularly to the victims of crime, and that justice is carried out in such a way as to reduce the risk of reoffending. We have made our approach to crime perfectly clear: we must punish the guilty. Prison is the right place for serious criminals-they will not commit more crimes while inside-but we also strive to avoid reoffending. The case that the right hon. Lady mentions was obviously a serious case for the victim, but newspaper cuttings from Salford are not the source of future criminal justice reform.

Philip Davies (Shipley, Conservative)

Will the Secretary of State take this opportunity to acknowledge that very few people are sentenced to prison for a first offence? The vast majority of people who serve short-term prison sentences do so only because they have been given community sentence after community sentence, all of which have failed. The last thing to do with those people is to give them another community sentence, only for it to fail once again.

Kenneth Clarke (Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State, Justice; Rushcliffe, Conservative)

It is very pleasant to say that I largely agree with my hon. Friend. He has probably been upset by reports that I am minded to abolish short prison sentences. Actually, I have always expressed precisely the opposite opinion. It has never been my view that we should abolish all short prison sentences. Indeed, I have rather shared his opinion that with the kind of irritating recidivist offender who is causing a lot of damage, if they offend over and over again there is quite often no alternative to a short prison sentence. There are too many such offenders, and although there are cases in which we can avoid the use of short prison sentences, if we do that we must have a very effective alternative.

Sadiq Khan (Tooting, Labour)

May I begin by saying how much I genuinely relish the prospect of debating-and, dare I say, arguing-with the Lord Chancellor and his team on the matters in their portfolio? I am also looking forward to working with the coalition Government where there are areas of agreement between us, notably on the use of restorative justice projects such as community payback-a subject that has already been raised by Elizabeth Truss and other colleagues. However, the right hon. and learned Gentleman will know that most people who receive short prison sentences are persistent offenders who have refused to change their behaviour, even after undergoing community sentences, as has been said. He has said that he is not against abolishing the power of magistrates to award short sentences. Will he commit today not to reduce, in the sentencing review now taking place, the power of magistrates to give custodial sentences where appropriate?

Kenneth Clarke (Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State, Justice; Rushcliffe, Conservative)

I welcome the right hon. Gentleman to his place, and I look forward to debating with him. He has certainly got to Cabinet level a damn sight more quickly than I ever did, so I am sure that he will prove a formidable challenge to the Government. As I have already said, we will not take away powers from magistrates courts, which sometimes find it absolutely inevitable that they have to give somebody a short prison sentence, because everything else has failed and that person is continuing to cause damage to other people. However, we hope to provide magistrates with the full range of alternatives. As my right hon. Friend the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice said a few moments ago, more credible community sentences-sentences with a properly punitive element that might have a better chance of rehabilitating the offender-should be tried in more cases, and we will try to provide them for magistrates.

Sadiq Khan (Tooting, Labour)

I am grateful to the Lord Chancellor for that answer. He has made it absolutely clear that magistrates will not have the power to give short sentences taken away from them. For clarity, will he also confirm that the cuts that will be announced tomorrow will not lead to a reduction in any prison places or to any prisons being closed?

Kenneth Clarke (Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State, Justice; Rushcliffe, Conservative)

I hope that the right hon. Gentleman is not going to follow his predecessors in making a great policy point about a target for the number of people in prison, because there is no evidence that that does any good to anybody. We do have to- [ Interruption. ] The present numbers are enormous compared with the numbers when we were last in office. There are 20,000 more people in prison than there were when we last had a Conservative Home Secretary in charge. We are looking at what works, and what protects the public. Prison must be used for those for whom it is essential, but it is simply not the case that prison is the only way of dealing with all offenders. Once we have punished people and given others a break from their activities, the key thing is to do more than the present system does to reduce the risk of their reoffending and committing more crimes against more victims, to which the present system almost condemns us. More than half of prisoners-

John Bercow (Speaker)

Order. I am grateful to the Secretary of State, but we now need shorter questions and shorter answers.

FROM CLEVELAND TO MONTY PYTHON

Officially Justices of the Peace are considered by the authorities who govern  them pure and simple as members of the judiciary. But their very status as unpaid part time volunteers supposedly representative of the communities in which they live or work sets them apart.  As a retired member of that fraternity I feel that I can comment from the unique position of having had a foot on both sides of the divide.  

There are many commentators being paid thousands of pounds a week to provide their supposedly enlightened viewpoints of the daily events which enter into what can loosely be described as our justice system from alcohol excess to public xenophobia. Recently there have been a few situations which IMHO offer an overall insight into its workings.  

The establishment of elected Police and Crime Commissioners ten years ago was supposed to allow the public some influence albeit at a distance over local policing.  Today there are few within the circle of legal influence who would disagree with the abandonment of this circus.  There have just been too many scandals associated with the position. The latest concerns Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner.  Considering the Cleveland Constabulary was considered the country`s worst this latest revelation I suppose comes as no surprise.  For the people of Teeside and surrounds this must induce or reinforce a lack of confidence in the law and lawmakers; a prelude to dissatisfaction with the norms that must be upheld for a thriving civil society. 

Sadly it seems that that brutally abused woman Sarah Everard is forever going to be remembered  by millions for her murder at the hands of a monster in a police uniform. And in the same context the current Commissioner of Scotland Yard is going to be remembered by many who wonder how she was appointed to the job in the first place considering her record of misjudgements which killed one man and ruined the lives of others.  To compound such a record of ignominy it seems she is about to appoint her choice of investigator into the whole sorry mess.  I would call it the schoolgirl marking her own homework. 

Hardly a day passes when the term asylum seeker legal or illegal does not appear in a headline or news bulletin. The current Tory Party conference will thousands of words on the topic today and over the course of the event. It has been said that one way to reduce the magnetic effect of this country to those striving to travel here is to turn off the magnet; reduce the attraction. The Home Office has been trying various ways to do just that.  Removing an allowance to make  phone calls  has been declared unlawful by the High Court. The fact must be faced is that this country cannot be an almost open door for the thousands of mainly young men from the Middle East and Africa who annually are landing on our shores however the distress in their native lands. To square this circle with a humane and lawful policy will take the wisdom of Solomon. 

Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders were instituted after my retirement so my knowledge is hearsay.  But it seems they operate akin to various orders around domestic abuse and other matters of disorder where ASBO was the forerunner; civil orders the breach of which become criminal offences. Since then they have proliferated.  They operate on the civil basis of probability and IMHO are open to abuse.  Surely all the supposed brains at the Ministry of Justice can do better?

Northern Ireland is literally a law unto itself. But even there some matters stretch credibility.  One such is those charged with murder being given bail. The structures of this province within the UK have always been an anomaly.  I wouldn`t bet against the unification with the Republic by the decade`s end.  

The legal age of sexual consent for heterosexuals in the UK is 16, in Japan it is 13 and in Nigeria it is 11. In Scotland 16 year olds can vote but in England it is not until the age of 18 at which one can also be appointed a magistrate.  Whether or not one`s opinion on these age limits is positive or negative it is sheer fact that a human brain is not fully developed until the early to mid twenties. However owing to a recent Court of Appeal decision puberty blockers can be supplied to children under 16. Of course I cannot comment on the judicial basis of this decision but I do wonder at the outcome. 

Self harming is a cry for help.  For those of us with a more rational disposition it is almost unfathomable.  For the sufferers it is tragic.  To perform such an action in public is beyond comprehension. But does it justify the criminal penalty of  a £40 fine, an order to pay £85 court costs, £60 probation costs and a £128 victim surcharge? 

It used to be said that judges have no real understanding of the common people ie you and I and live a rarefied life from birth to retirement. Governments of all colours for decades have sought to increase public confidence in the judiciary leading to the establishment of the Sentencing Council and Sentencing Guidelines. It would appear that these initiatives have been by passed by HH Judge Timothy Spencer QC when he sentenced a potential terrorist to read some classic English novels. If only Monty Python were still active: what a sketch that would have made. 

A CLASS DRUGS POSSESSION DECRIMINALISED IN SCOTLAND

This blog has consistently argued for the decriminalisation of drugs in England.  The current system has failed miserably to stop, control or persuade  drug users, occasional or habitual, to give up their habit or addiction.  Drug use has been estimated to account for c 70% of acquisitive and/or violent crime.  So called county lines drug supply routes were unknown a decade ago but  as night follows day they developed a few years subsequent to their establishment in most USA urban areas.  Centuries prior to the ravings of the Scottish National Party Scotland was justly proud of its independent legal and educational systems. The quality and attainments of the latter under the SNP have not been matters of pride but so far the legal system has withstood the porridge brains of those who inhabit   Pàrlamaid na h-Alba otherwise known colloquially as "Holyrood".  

Witness corroboration is required in Scots law as the evidence of one witness, however credible, is not sufficient to prove a charge against an accused or to establish any material or crucial fact. A common form of corroboration in regards to criminal offences is there are two or more witnesses to an offence.  In all probability this has allowed the wrongful criminal conviction rate to be far below that in England and Wales but apparently there are no official statistics I could find to substantiate that opinion.  I quote from Wikipedia; " As at 31 March 2007 [my bold]  the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission had received a total of 887 cases since April 1999, when it was established. The Commission completed its review of 841 of these cases and referred 67 of them to the High Court. Of the referrals, 39 have been determined: 25 appeals were granted; 11 appeals rejected; and, 3 abandoned. Chief Executive, Gerard Sinclair, says that normally the court rules about half the referrals to be a miscarriage of justice each year, which would equate in 2003 to roughly 0.005% of the total number of Scottish criminal convictions. But, says Sinclair: "Even if it were just one wrongful conviction a year, that would still be one too many."  The secrecy behind the apparent publication of current statistics is at odds with the welcome live televising of some major Scottish trials.  Combined with the "third verdict", in many ways the legal system north of the border is far in advance of many other jurisdictions in protecting the rights of the individual citizen.  

And so to possession of class A prohibited drugs. Last week it was announced that those in possession of class A  drugs would not be prosecuted if it could be demonstrated that the user had no intention to supply. Effectively possession of drugs for personal use has been decriminalised.  The extraordinary death rate from drug use in Scotland has driven this innovative change of policy. In 2020 1,339 people died as a direct result of drug use. In England and Wales with over ten times the population the number who died from drug use was 4,561.  One doesn`t have to be a statistician to note the scale of the problem in Scotland. In Glasgow last year the death rate was 30 per 100,000 people.  It is not unlikely that that rate will be exceeded this year.  This change in outcomes follows from the declining proportion of drug users in recent years being prosecuted in court.  There is a caveat to my welcoming this momentous change in process: without any provision so far published to rehabilitate and wean addicts as opposed to "recreational  middle class users" off heroin and cocaine a chance is being missed to drastically remove the problem from the largely marginalised youth of deprived neighbourhoods.  I have argued in previous posts for the establishment of compulsorily attendance in medically run institutions devoted solely to that cause........the rehabilitation of drug addicts.  Under the newly established attitudes to such a major problem for society in general and countless families in particular this would seem an opportune moment for the Scottish government to take one more step and find the cash and motivation to wipe off the blot of having Europe`s worst rate of drug addiction.  

ARE GUIDELINES ACTUALLY REQUIRED FOR "EXCEPTIONAL HARDSHIP"?

I have posted here more times than I care to remember on the topic of exceptional hardship.  They can be accessed by putting those words in the search box.  I have also posted not infrequently that the sentencing abilities of a magistrates bench have been greatly restricted by the ever increasing "guidelines" from the Sentencing Council. There must now be thousands of magistrates who have no experience of a bench under an experienced chairman following a well developed sentencing structure in which, sometimes under the guidance of a legal advisor and sometimes not, a sensible ladder of various and varying possibilities played out. The current system will, if not now, in time lead to a tick box system in which an algorithm will issue a sentence and the bench will be tasked with deciding if any amendments are needed for any individual case.  Exceptional hardship is one of the diminishing number of issues for which no guidelines currently exist although my understanding is that that exception is currently under review.  A recent simple report makes the problem clear.  The very essence of the totting procedure is that every driver should be aware that 12 penalty points within three years equals disqualification.  For many high street law firms exceptional hardship is a very nice money tree.  In my early days on the bench as a newbie winger my protestations against my senior colleagues` decisions to allow the exceptional hardship defence in the flimsiest of arguments went unheard.  As a chairman having done some individual research as was available on the subject I would steer my colleagues along strictly rational grounds sometimes in conflict with an overbearing intrusive legal advisor voicing her concerns which we took on board and rejected. Latest  figures from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) show that nearly 9,000 drivers still hold a licence despite exceeding the 12-point threshold.  Why should anyone with customers/ clients/ patients dependent upon their advice/opinion/labour be treated more favourably?  Where is a line to be drawn?  From my experience colleagues wanted to accept arguments from  middle class professionals much more often than from those of a lower social status. I firmly then as  now reject this view. The doctor in the case above was well aware of the consequences of her actions.  Indeed it might be argued that she would (should)  have been more aware than most of the consequences.  Indeed her culpability IMHO was increased by her social and professional position. An interesting argument which should be mandatory reading for all magistrates was heard at the  APPEAL COURT, HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY in Scotland 2012.  As is often the case appellants with adequate financial resources have the wherewithal to challenge a ban resulting from losing an exceptional hardship argument.  Perhaps this is actually an area where magistrates need to be subject to guidelines so that their oath might be realised in actuality as opposed to theory. 

 “I, ____________ , do solemnly sincerely and truly declare and affirm 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.”

PLUS CA CHANGE ...................

We now have the 8th Lord Chancellor/ Justice Secretary since 2010. It doesn`t need advanced mathematics to appreciate that at that rate it is impossible for anyone however gifted to truly appreciate all the nuances of the job and to set the direction of travel without the combined resources of those who keep the wheels turning ie the department`s civil servants.  But the great British public really doesn`t care about "justice" until perhaps the summons appears in their letter box.  Al they know is the few brief lines in their local paper or what they read or hear on social media:- Twitter Law. With in depth reporting of criminal matters becoming more sparse week by week, headline criminality excepted, it is cases like this which form the concept of "justice" in the public mind.  Compared to many that report seems comprehensive but it leaves the impression of "soft" justice: perhaps that is justified.  There is nothing reported by the presiding magistrate which seems to justify the leniency dished out to this offender.  Taking this a step further it is this mindset which has increasingly driven sentencing to the highest levels of severity in a generation at a time when prison conditions are fast approaching a national disgrace, probation services have yet to recover from their decimation by the most incompetent of the previous seven Lord Chancellors  and increasing emphasis on so called victim-hood. The new boy at Petty France will, no doubt as all his predecessors have done, in due course issue a long statement of how knife crime will be a priority and criminals will receive their just deserts but all I can add is plus ça change plus c'est la meme chose.