MAGISTRATES AND THE OFFICE FOR JUDICIAL COMPLAINTS

 

14. Aug. 2010. – 16:33:08

Those appointed as Justice of the Peace are very clearly made aware that their public position makes them liable to very severe strictures on the conduct of their private life insofar as it might tarnish the image of the magistracy. Thus a fortnight ago a member of the Waltham Forest Bench who was also a local councillor was removed. The Office for Judicial Complaints issued the following statement;

“Mr Graham Sinclair, a magistrate appointed to the Waltham Forest Bench, failed to notify the Department for Work and Pensions of a material change in circumstances that would have affected his entitlement to benefit. A judicial investigation found his actions fell below the standards expected of a magistrate. As a result, the Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor have
agreed that Mr Sinclair should be removed from the magistracy.”

However the only press reports concerning this gentleman which could conceivably be pertinent inform that in January 2009 he [and his wife] were unanimously found not guilty of fraud. Without further knowledge more comment is impossible but the message is very clear that a J.P. must not only be whiter than white in his conduct but be seen to be such.

On June 24th Ms June Thomson was removed from her post because she had failed to declare fixed penalty speeding endorsements and penalties. Since the beginning of the year seven magistrates have been removed from the magistracy for failing to show commitment and/or failing to maintain contact with their bench. That usually indicates that the individual has not been able to maintain the minimum number of sittings required.

The OJC removed twenty five J.P.s in the year ended 31/03/2010. So far this year beginning 01/04/2010 twelve J.P.s have been removed. These numbers indicate that the removal rate has increased considerably. With increasing financial pressures on almost everyone it seems likely that many colleagues will seek to reduce their availability to sit in order to maximise their income. It is also unfortunately the case that more, especially those on low incomes, might be tempted to maximise their income but in doing so attempt to obtain benefits to which they are not entitled. With fervent declarations by magistrates and their spokesmen that they are representative of the population at large what could be more representative of that population than when up against financial collapse some turn out to be dishonest.

THE VAGARIES OF STATISTICS

 12. Aug. 2010. – 12:12:00 

It is well known that artists and photographers can create dramatic effects by the judicious use of contrast. Indeed using contrast in a literary context can heighten the writer`s intended effect of his words on a reader who might have been lulled into temporary stasis by tiredness or simple boredom.

But when news items throw into stark relief misinterpretation or an incredible demonstration of a retreat from reality on important topics one just wonders.

Many studies have demonstrated that between 5% and 20% of drivers are uninsured at any one time. That there is no confirmed figure is an indication of the uncertainty on the prevalence of this offence. Considering that every taxed vehicle must be insured and the results can be obtained on hand held computers by police it is surely only a short time until agreed proven figures for uninsured drivers will be published. Nevertheless it is surprising that during a recent police check on the A51 out of more than 3000 vehicles stopped in a four hour period only four were seized at the roadside for having no insurance. The conclusions are fairly limited.

A} Not every non insured driver had his vehicle seized
B} Some cases required further investigation
C} National statistics are wholly inaccurate
D} Drivers on that day at that time were not typical of various statistical databases
E} Police computers were faulty

I suppose some senior plod in Cheshire Police decided the exercise was an efficient use of limited resources.

GOODBYE TO LOCAL JUSTICE

 11. Aug. 2010. – 13:02:45 

Almost every local newspaper every week for the last few weeks has been carrying a story about the possible closure of a local Magistrates` Court. These intended closures have been variously described as a slap in the face for local justice, an interference in the rights of local people etc etc. Before parliament rose the questions from M.P.s to the Minister of Justice on the closures were coming thick and fast. 

Sitting on a large bench in a metropolitan area “local” is less significant perhaps to my colleagues and me than it is to those in more rural areas. The subject is exercising contributors to the Magistrates` Association Forum. I would opine that the mantra “local justice for local people” will be as hackneyed in a few years as “bob a job week” is for the Scouting Movement. In most aspects of our lives there has been a determined push by government to centralise all that is recorded about us. The last government more than any in peacetime accelerated this trend. The concept of LJAs…..Local Justice Areas is an outmoded model being eroded in the name of “efficiency” or “excellence” or “standards” or the familiar term of derision known as “post code lottery”. J.P.s now are not only being permitted to sit in any court in their county or cluster but being positively encouraged to do so. This in itself is not a bad idea considering there are still some courts where a “day chairman” selects the colleagues for each sitting; an abhorrent practice which reeks of twin sets and pearls and spare hats in the ladies` locker for those who forgot theirs. Another welcome change from “local justice” is appraisal by colleagues from other courts so the “you scratch my back and I`ll scratch yours” policy ceases to allow incompetent colleagues, especially chairmen past their sell by date, to continue to cause embarrassment to their wingers and court users in general.

Fewer courts will result in longer travelling distances and times plus increased expense for those using the courts especially defendants and witnesses who rely on public transport. This is not an insuperable problem but it is a problem to be considered nevertheless. 

However the whole subject of cost saving by the Ministry of Justice is being applied with little logic or forethought; statistics with no meaning are being bandied about by those with no understanding not excluding those at the very heart of the policy. The Treasury termites are eating away at the foundations of our justice system; it is only a matter of time before this becomes apparent as parts of the superstructure start to crack in public view. 

PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT A TERRORIST THREAT

 

11. Aug. 2010. – 12:54:37

There was a rare admission recently from the Chief of the Met police that occasionally his officers get things wrong. Unfortunately it wasn`t that he realised that occasionally his constables murder people “in the line of duty” but even so it was on a subject about which I`ve previously blogged; namely interference by police with the right of the ordinary citizen to photograph more or less what s/he wants under the pretext that the Anti Terrorism Act gives police the authority to prevent such photography and/or to order the deletion of any images with the threat of arrest for refusal to obey or give name and address. This is one small step for police but a huge step for policy.

ADDENDUM 13th August 2010

It was not front page comment for the tabloids but last month three activists were cleared at Inner London Crown Court of obstructing police who were filming their activities illegally. One might surmise on the phrase about the boot being on the other foot....

JUDGE NOT LEST YE BE JUDGED

 11 Aug. 2010. – 11:37:02 

We are all familiar with the toddler hiding behind a sofa but whose feet are sticking out in public view and who wonders how the adults knew she was there; she has no conception at that age of other peoples` viewpoints and she concludes if she can`t see somebody then somebody can`t see her. I think there is a similarity in perception when one has been away on holiday……logically the world continues to spin and events happen but because we have been far away in mind and/or in body we are still with the thought processes of that toddler and can be surprised that things happen without our being on the spot. 

And so it has been for the last week. The Ministry of Justice is consulting on plans to raise the upper age limit for jury service, currently 70, or abolish it altogether. I have blogged previously on the jury system and observed what are in my opinion inadequacies in allowing virtually anybody but prisoners, lords and lunatics to serve. A classic example was reported two weeks ago that at Birmingham Crown Court a juror was doing puzzles instead of concentrating on the fraud case before her. At Worcester Crown Court she was fined £1,200. But returning to the possibility of 70+ jurors surprise surprise; the judges don`t relish the idea. In fact they are positively opposed. Since they generally retire at 70 they are hopping up and down that ordinary people might still be compos mentis when their honours are doing their gardens. In all their eloquent response they fail to consider that they are and were getting paid to judge but jurors over seventy will generally be retired and performing their task as a civic duty. I think the judiciary should initiate a debate upon the universal eligibility of jurors; after all they are on that topic, if no other, better informed than most.

SHE COULDN`T CARE LESS

 04. Aug. 2010. – 23:06:41 

Although he appears to be now backtracking just a trifle from his remarks a month ago on the futility of short sentences Kenneth Clarke`s theme was seized upon by all who consider that community sentences are an answer to many of society`s ills. 

First time offenders with absolutely no record of involvement in the criminal justice system; not even a reprimand or caution, rarely are sentenced to imprisonment but it does happen now and again and one such occasion was in early April. The facts were that Ms X a lady in her fifties with very poor English language [an interpreter was required] had arrived here from one of the East European states newly integrated into the European Union. She was charged with assault by beating. She had found work as a care assistant in an old age home. Earlier this year whilst bending down to lift with a colleague a partially paralysed eighty nine years old dementia sufferer from her wheelchair to the lavatory saliva from the old lady`s gaping mouth dropped on her face. She accused her of spitting at her and immediately threw her back on to her chair, wiped her own face and then gave her first a backhanded slap across her face and an open handed slap on the return to the other side of her face, the large ring on her finger [which apparently was against the rules] cutting her lip. This not being enough to assuage her anger she punched her twice on the chest before her colleague forced her to stop. Subsequently she tried to persuade that colleague to lie about the incident and threatened her if she talked to police. She was found guilty after trial.

My two colleagues, one more senior than I and the other a newbie, initially considered that although the offence had crossed the custody threshold personal mitigation could be argued to suspend imprisonment, a disposal which I believe a previous Lord Chief Justice had regretted having been given to Magistrates` Courts by the 2003 Criminal Justice Act as it had been utilised more than anticipated with correspondingly unpredicted numbers who had broken the terms of their suspension being imprisoned thus increasing the prison population..but that`s for another time. When my newbie colleague, who was also a newbie father, told us that in his own mind he had unprompted mentally substituted a vulnerable child in place of a vulnerable adult in this scenario his position had changed and he persuaded our third member likewise. 

The sentence was thirteen weeks immediate custody. It was unknown whether or not this individual had a record in her own country although that situation I believe can change with the implementation of section 144 and Schedule 17 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. In any case in an environment such as an old age home where many residents have major or minor difficulties communicating, is it not ridiculous that a worker whose English cannot cope with a trial can nevertheless obtain employment? At least Ms X`s days as a carer in the U.K. are over.

This episode in my opinion is typical of much that has changed for the worse in this country. The jobs that apparently do not pay enough for UK citizens to get off their arses to do are gladly taken by hard working and usually honest people from anywhere from Romania to Rwanda. Many years ago when I was a student I spent one summer working in a hospital/care home for permanently disabled ex-servicemen; not only for the experience of caring for those who were almost destroyed for their country but also to make enough to live on for the next term. Most of my friends did similar tasks the more unpleasant the work generally the higher the pay and no gap year gallivants in those days. But then every generation bemoans the current state of affairs." it wasn`t like this in my day."

I feel better now that rant is over. The nice nurse in her short white skirt and uniform says I need to calm down and have a break so I`m off now on a short holiday. Come back here in a week or so if you want more like the above.

FINES ARE NOT ALWAYS FINE

 04. Aug. 2010. – 12:58:24 

Sitting in an area which has a high proportion of residents born outside the U.K. we are used to dealing with all sorts, but foreign visitors to this country rarely appear in the dock because we`re hardly a tourist mecca and our residents tend to return to their countries of origin to visit family, but last week was the exception.

A Russian man was visiting his family here. Unfortunately he brought with him the Russian habit of drinking Vodka to excess and trying to drive on, for him, the wrong side of the road at the same time. Along with others I have done my fair share of criticising police practices but certainly they don`t turn a blind eye to drink driving when a Russian hints at a few Roubles if they go away. He was before us having pleaded guilty to drink driving at over three times the legal limit. In addition to a long driving disqualification a U.K. resident would have been subject to at least a community sentence and probably a requirement to do unpaid work. For a foreign visitor that was not possible. We were left with the single option of a fine in addition to driving disqualification in this country. The next step was that we had to convert in our minds an assumed community sentence into Pounds Sterling. My initial thoughts, based on the average relevant weekly income of £350 we are instructed to apply, were that a fine of around £1,000 + costs etc would be appropriate. My colleagues and I eventually settled on a number in total just under four figures. Our legal adviser however told us that since the defendant had stated from the dock that in Russia his income was equivalent to about one third of the £350RWI we were bound to take that into consideration. Having expressed my opinion that this logic could lead to ridiculously low fines for those from the world`s poorest states who chose to conjure numbers out of thin air to escape their just rewards for law breaking in the U.K. we had to proceed as advised. The only daylight in this nonsense is that in such cases immediate custody is applied on a strict £/day formula until the fine is paid. We fined him £500 + costs etc. He had a friend in the public gallery who seemed to give him the thumbs up when he was told he would be in the cells until 4.00pm and then to prison overnight if the total sum were not paid that day and he would stay there according to the formula if necessary.

When about one in eight prisoners is a foreigner and our borders are still as porous as volcanic rock the Home Office still has much work to do and on reducing budgets that seems an uphill task. But if it were as simple to collect long overdue unpaid fines from U.K. residents by threatening immediate custody without the convolutions that have to be performed currently perhaps the £1.3 billion owed might be quickly reduced. That would mean of course more prison places and more [short] sentences. Ever seen a dog chasing its tale……….????