IDENTITY CARDS BURIED WITH LABOUR!

 27. May. 2010. – 14:06:37 

Libertarians and perhaps many others not so single minded about retaining their privacy in an increasingly big brother state will be extremely pleased at today`s announcement that Identity Cards for all, a policy so fervently espoused by successive Labour Home Secretaries, are now history. If this government offers nothing else to those who are resistant to being obliged to identify themselves to petty bureaucrats and worse it will be enough. But it 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.

Was that a coincidence? Do we have free will? Will the world end in 2012? Will England win the World Cup? 

NOT ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR

27. May. 2010. – 12:13:52 

Those of us who are literate enough to read and/or write assimilate so much information on a daily basis that our mind is programmed to act as a very efficient filter retaining in either our long term or short term memory areas only the information which sub consciously or consciously we would wish to retrieve at some future time. Events, in the widest possible use of that word, will tend to be retained if they are so outwith our normal experiences they provide a form of template against which others could be judged. Such was the experience I had when I noticed the following headline in the on line Register; "Statistics prof nails Blackpool hoopla scam".

Who hasn`t played hoopla? Throw a ring around a peg and bag a prize. Along with "roll the penny" hoopla was the most widely played stall at local carnivals and fun fairs when I was allowed out with friends and no parents to bother us......I was about 11 at the time. Anybody eg who accepts the challenge to "find the lady" from an East European on the pavement in London`s Oxford Street deserves no sympathy for his/her loss but a hoopla stall in Blackpool??????

On a few occasions I have queried the veracity and purpose of the statistics produced by those who are interested in propagating their opinions on whether crime and everything associated with it is going up, down or sideways. It would appear that Lancaster University statistics lecturer Dr David Lucy showed it would take a player over 2,622 attempts to “stand a 99 per cent probability of success” to throw a hoop over the peg at a stall run by Darren Casey. Without having the academic expertise to comment on the maths of the statement of likelihood of success but believing that there is rarely 100% probability of anything apart from death and taxes he seems to be saying that the punters were being ripped off. Blackpool magistrates agreed. Casey was sentenced to 14 weeks custody, suspended for one year, ordered to complete 270 hours of community service and pay £2,000 in court costs. He also pleaded guilty to "allowing a child to gamble", and was handed 135 hours of community service and ordered to cough £575 in costs. 

Perhaps Dr Lucy should be invited to study crime statistics produced by Uncle Tom Cobley and all and find out if any cheating has been going on? 

POLICE, HUMANISM AND DIVERSITY

 

26. May. 2010. – 12:05:52

It never ceases to amaze me that police forces have moved in a couple of generations from what could loosely be termed amongst the most reactionary of organisations to arguably the most politically correct in this country. In fact we no longer have police forces; we have the police service. Whether the pendulum has swung too far is for individuals to judge for themselves. But there is no denying that it has swung. And nothing typifies that more than the pre occupation with "diversity". We have associations for police officers of all shades [literally], creeds and opinions.....black, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and even pagans are throwing their rights of association into the fractured systems of representation within policing. And with groupings where membership is based on rank it is a wonder there is any cohesion at all. Perhaps the glue that holds all police officers together is one of the oldest such compounds discovered.....the "them against us" adhesive which has been shown in times past to be a force as much against the administration of honest policing as for it.

It seems that notwithstanding the above Hertfordshire police have recruited two humanist advisers. In the full report there is this paragraph;
“Humanism is a religion based on reason not faith, which does not depend on a god or gods, and believes science provides the only reliable source of knowledge in the universe.”

The British Humanist Association defines humanists as follows;
“are atheists and agnostics who make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared human values. We take responsibility for our actions and base our ethics on the goals of human welfare, happiness and fulfilment. We seek to make the best of the one life we have by creating meaning and purpose for ourselves, individually and together.”

There is no mention that Hertfordshire Constabulary is paying for the services of the aforementioned advisers. However this example of supposedly trying to please all the people all the time must cost the organisation in time and materials. Whilst some might find all this uplifting this sorry tale in my humble opinion demonstrates clearly that our society is now based more on drifting sand than solid bedrock.

DRUGS IN PRISONS

 

24. May. 2010. – 11:20:38

To argue in the negative is always a difficult task. To remember negative thoughts or activities or perhaps the repression of such provides food and drink for those in the business of "therapy". For those even with elephantine memories the lack of memories of continual media exposure of prisons seems somewhat surreal. Perhaps as a society we are more pre-occupied with crime and criminals than we were in the past. Certainly prisons and all aspects of their place in the criminal justice system fill more media columns and TV hours than was the case twenty years ago.

There are annual reports, overcrowding, suicides, and of course drugs. I remember about the late 1980s listening to a report by a New York health officer on the Today programme on Radio 4 telling the audience that his city`s overwhelming crack problem would also be Britain`s in ten years such is the commonality of this modern plague. And so it has come to pass.

On 12th April I posted "CAN DRUGS BE EXCLUDED FROM PRISONS?". There have always been unsubstantiated reports that prison officers prefer their charges to be semi docile having had their regular fix than to be faced with 1000 offenders on cold turkey. Whatever the truth my impression is that if there were a will to control drugs entering prisons and money were available then the way would be found."

A couple of weeks ago a two part reality TV documentary of life in Wormwood Scrubs was screened. I`ve visited two large jails but not the Scrubs. They are not surprisingly depressing places for the visitor....three to a cell about the size of a garden shed where the inmates eat and defecate with only a curtain to separate the two bodily functions. In both establishments the senior prison officer who was our escort.....we were a group of JPs, lawyers and a judge.........was at pains to explain the strenuous efforts to curb drugs entering the buildings and their consequent circulation through the prison. The TV programme relayed the same sentiments from prison officers at the Scrubs....sniffer dogs, strip searching and sanctions available to offenders caught. But then we were shown the visiting hall[s] where despite CCTV and roaming warders with dogs physical transfer of drugs was not the most difficult task because there was no physical barrier between convict and visitor. I can understand the argument that to allow such contact can keep prisoners mentally stable and looking forward to re-joining their families when their stretch is completed. But in my opinion it is a bit like having the car`s air conditioning on full blast in the desert with the window open.

In the Sunday Times yesterday David Leppard in a thoughtful article provided some interesting information from an as yet unpublished report from the Policy Exchange think tank. It says jail prices of heroin, cocaine and cannabis are ten times street value and consequently a great temptation to prison staff to smuggle in and sell on. Of the 90,000 inmates of Britain`s prisons at any one time 14,000 were using drugs at least once a week. The Met police in 2006 found at least 1000 of the ten thousand prison officers were receiving income from corrupt practices including smuggling drugs.

Certainly if one third of prisoners is high or looking forward to their next fix it must make life easier for the staff who are without doubt very poorly paid for the job they do.

There are those and I am one who advocate the decriminalisation of currently class A- class C drugs and concerted efforts to treat drug addiction as a medical problem as opposed to a criminal problem. The consequences of such addiction are often ruinous to those close to in addition to the addict him/herself and in prisons drug addiction and suicide are not wholly dissociated bedfellows.

Dame Anne Owers the Chief Inspector of Prisons told an audience last week that British prisons have too many inmates suffering with mental health problems. She told her audience that when mental hospitals were closed down in the 1980s and 90s Care in the Community was promised. “In practice that has translated into Care in Custody. A large percentage of prisoners are mentally ill and prison officers are not trained to deal with them.” I think there is not one magistrate or judge who would disagree with those remarks.

I posted yesterday that short sentences are necessary. They are. But so are places of refuge and treatment for those who cannot cope with their lives. They are called asylums and every town or county used to have one. Now these buildings are often blocks of flats. Another example of misguided thinking and planning by those playing Monopoly with real money and real populations and who walk away from the very mess they created. Will it be any different this time?

SHORT PRISON SENTENCES ARE A NECESSITY

 23. May. 2010. – 13:35:08 

Being a long serving member of an urban bench, meeting and sitting with newly appointed colleagues is usually a refreshing experience. Owing to the age profile where I sit we have had around two dozen new faces in the retiring room in the last eighteen months. They range in age and profile from thirty something hedge fund managers and high flying civil servants, forty something housewives, fifty something ex police officers, one rabbi, one well known in her field female entrepreneur, and two sixty something retired lawyers. Some are black, some are Asian, most are white. At least one is severely physically disabled. I am pleased that none is younger than in his/her thirties and that contrary to some colleagues` opinions I am not unhappy that we have no deaf or blind appointees. 

When sitting with recently appointed Justices who by this stage have had extensive and expensive training there is one factor which no amount of preparation can equip them with and that is a backlog of experience in sentencing. Six months` custody is the courts` maximum. Faced eg with a defendant with no criminal record convicted after trial of punching, kicking and pushing to the floor his pregnant wife where on the ladder of punishment do you place this man? With experience one thinks back to previous similar assaults and compares the situation with aggravating and mitigating features of other assaults. In other words a template in the mind is added to the official guidelines. When that process is explained to a new colleague his or her reluctance to consider the maximum sentence as a possibility is overcome in a logical structured fashion.

On one aspect of sentencing all colleagues are in agreement. We do not take any pleasure in imposing jail sentences. Contrary to the outbursts of some ignorant politicians there are sometimes occasions when there is no other option. 

Such was the case earlier this year when Graham was in the dock. He was thirty nine going on sixty. His face was custard coloured, his hair....what he had....hadn`t been combed or washed for months, his sweat shirt was more sweat than shirt and his jeans were about two sizes too big for somebody approaching six foot and only about nine stone. He appeared for sentencing for breaching the punishment for theft of a few items from a supermarket imposed two months previously; a 7.00pm - 7.00am three month curfew. It wasn`t that he`d got home a little late on one occasion or left a little early one morning; he had been away from his address for at least five of the curfew hours on seven times in a month.

He had four pages of "previous". He had had every sentence in the book for drug possession, three courses of drug rehabilitation, umpteen thefts and robberies and had been inside many times. Indeed he had been released from prison for a previous low value theft only two weeks prior to having committed the offence for which he was given a curfew with that bench`s remarks noted on the court file," We are imposing a curfew and not custody. We are giving you a final opportunity to try to sort yourself out." His solicitor mitigated for him with obvious great difficulty. One of the factors that sentencers have to consider is the protection of the public. After conversations with my new colleague based on comments and sentiments above and agreement with our third member we sentenced him to fifteen weeks custody. 

Those who would alter the system to eliminate short sentences altogether should visit their local Magistrates` Court from time to time and acquaint themselves with what real people do and real people suffer and that those of us privileged to sit on the bench whilst not living with the Book of Leviticus under our pillows do our jobs as justly as we can on behalf of a society which doesn`t always know whether it wants hanging or harmony for miscreants. 

MAGISTRATES AND COMMON SENSE

 18. May. 2010. – 13:17:45 

In order to be appointed as Justices of the Peace applicants have to jump through a fair number of hoops and that is as it should be. In order to sit in judgement of fellow citizens which is a great privilege and responsibility it would be a strange system which did not wish to appoint the best people for the job regardless of ethnic origins, position in society, marital status, social status, political affiliation. All that is required is good health, good character, the required referees and if there is a disability this will be considered on the individual merits of the applicant. The personal qualities necessary are in addition understanding and communication, social awareness, maturity & sound temperament, sound judgement, commitment & reliability.

As happens regularly in towns all over the country new magistrates were recently sworn in at York. At the ceremony Judge Ashurst said: “Every single case is different. Our communities require people with knowledge of the world and bags of common sense to do the justice which has traditionally been done in these courts.” [my italics]

When I was sworn in during the 1990s the appointee had to possess as a requirement "common sense". As the good Judge said above and as many would agree "common sense" as a necessary requirement seems to be....you guessed right.........common sense. But it`s not. Sometime in the last ten years that requirement was withdrawn. As I understand the reasons that were issued at the time it was asserted that what would be common sense to one person might not be common to another especially somebody whose origin was not of the UK where the word common [belonging to all] would not necessarily be applicable. 

Perhaps the Judge was unaware of this. Perhaps he was well aware and chose his words deliberately. In any event in my opinion he did us all a favour and especially the new JPs in emphasising that whether or not it`s official or unofficial common sense is more than a worthy attribute of a magistrate; it is a necessity. 

WHEN A WIFE GIVES EVIDENCE IN HER HUSBAND`S DEFENCE

 @ 17. May. 2010. – 11:18:41 

Most people are aware that, generally speaking, a wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband. Consistent with that understanding, magistrates when listening to a wife who gives evidence on her husband`s behalf, will decide how much weight to give to her evidence.

And so to the tale of Fred and the lovely Maureen. He was a 45 year old self employed builder and she was a hairdresser. It was earlier this year and he had been charged with racially aggravated assault insofar as he had punched the complainant, a youth called Jerry, outside the pub calling him a "lazy gypsy bastard". We had heard evidence from Jerry and the officers who arrived at the scene after the incident and had arrested Fred. In due course Fred gave his account of the incident in which he asserted that he had acted in self defence when Jerry tried to hit him. Under cross examination he was forced to admit that he had used the words ascribed to him but vehemently denied the assault. His only defence witness was Maureen. She obviously had taken time to prepare for her appearance in the witness stand. Not surprisingly her hair was immaculately back combed in a style that my female colleague to my left whispered would have done justice to the late great Dusty Springfield. As she was the only other witness to the incident defence counsel took her slowly through the events of the evening. For those perhaps unfamiliar with the process, witnesses in this country and certainly not in Magistrates` Courts when being questioned by a defence lawyer who is being funded by Legal Aid, are not rehearsed prior to giving evidence unlike the process in eg "Law and Order" or for an older generation "Perry Mason". All was going well for Fred who was listening intently to Maureen describing her husband`s acting to protect himself until when asked whether she had heard her husband use the fateful words stated categorically that he had not uttered them. A brief glance at the dock and it was obvious that Fred had realised the game was up. In her eagerness to please she had let him down and the truth prevailed. We found beyond reasonable doubt that Fred had acted in the manner told to us by Jerry.

Sentencing was adjourned for reports. One can only speculate on the subsequent conversation between defendant and his wife........ 

KENNETH CLARKE and TRULY a C.J.S.S.S.

 16. May. 2010. – 13:33:17 

It`s not often that a government, especially one in the midst of a financial crisis it has been elected to alleviate, can cut costs by imposing a measure which is long overdue and which is unlikely to receive any major opposition other than from die hard professionals struggling to preserve their own interests. That opportunity is available to the most canny member of this new cabinet Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke M.P. Q.C.

On 21/11/2009 I argued that "Either Way " offences are an anachronism. Another example of the abuse of such choice is illustrated by a case last week at Preston Crown Court.

The state should be the sole arbiter of mode of trial; offences being heard at either Magistrates` or Crown Courts. In the recent past former Justice Secretary Jack Straw argued that too many cases are being sent to the latter from the former for sentencing. Mr Clarke has the opportunity and the ability to power through Parliament a bill to abolish either way offences and to increase the sentencing powers of Magistrates` Courts to twelve months` custody. In one well aimed fell swoop £millions would be saved and the efficiency of Her Majesty`s Court Service increased. And then one of its favoured initialisms CJSSS would be more likely to be meaningful. [Criminal Justice: Simple, Speedy, Summary]