MAGISTRATES` ASSOCIATION RESPONSE TO COURT CLOSURES

 

16. Sep. 2010. @ 11:42:27 by TheJusticeofthePeace

Consultation on the great court closures document ended yesterday just as I returned to a damp cool sodden English airport where exiting the car park was enabled by a friendly wave from a local taxi driver who having deposited his passengers seemed to be in no hurry to return to his cab office. When the majority of us use the roads in the full knowledge that with all the obstacles in the way of a speedy journey letting another vehicle into the traffic stream isn`t going to slow us by more than a micro second there is still much to be proud of being British whatever sub divisions the bureaucrats would divide us into. 

I commented not so long ago that individual J.P.s should resist the urge to give interviews to the media on their opinions of the proposed court closures. Of course such advice was ignored. From the so called elected officers of the Magistrates` Association to various busybodies around the country we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, rhetoric was being heard from north to south and east to west. One result of all this is the self serving sight of so many M.P.s using this controversy to further their own column inches of self serving toadiness to ingratiate themselves with their constituents. After all how many local people would take umbrage against such outspokenness? 

However in Wales there is a glimmer of honesty in this debate. Labour politicians against closures, and most of them are, are eagerly pointing fingers at Coalition M.P.s who are of the same opinion. It seems to me that there are very few M.P.s if any who have come out openly in favour of closing courts in their own constituency. 

The M.A.`s response has been to use a shotgun when a sniper rifle was the weapon required. My own local M.A. representative who is well aware of the democratic shortcomings of the Association sent the M.A. response by e-mail to all members. This commendable action was not universal. There is a link on the M.A. forum for members to judge for themselves. At a suitable time I will publish it here.

NOT A GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND

 14. Sep. 2010. @ 19:39:28 by TheJusticeofthePeace

I had not intended blogging from this parched land where green is a very interesting colour but a story I was told by my guide Omar, an educated middle aged man of liberal ideals in a state where the minimum requirement for acceptance is only an almost basic literal lip service to Islam changed my mind. Omar had spent a year of his post university training in Norwich and was not averse to a cold beer in the appropriate circumstances.

During one of our walking tours in a large regional town where the poverty of the majority contrasted with the Mercedes S class of the few I enquired whether there was any likelilhood of group reaction to seek a better life or did the poverty stricken still accept their fate as being in the hands of Allah?

He told me that just before Ramadan there was an incident that for him summed up the situation and would be easily understood by a westerner making his first visit to a Moslem country.

Apparently local taxi drivers had found amongst themselves a local bigmouth who was trying without much success to induce the municipality to limit the number of owners of old bangers going into the rip off the tourist taxi business. He and three others had discovered that a wealthy well respected American journalist had employed a non taxi driver to drive him around in his new Audi 8. As a warning to others the taxi drivers had cornered him one night, verbally abused him and behaved uncharitably but according to Omar had not inflicted criminal damage on him or his Audi.

The next day bigmouth was arrested and since this was at the beginning of Ramadan he was held without charge and released just a couple of days ago. His associates did not visit him or make any enquiries as to his welfare. Omar explained that since each one of his fellows in this country believes that with the will of Allah he too can achieve an Audi 8 each fellow will climb over the back of all others to get there.

I noticed that my own driver, [not Omar] decent fellow though he was, treated every other driver, cyclist, man, woman, child as though each barred his way to paradise. A drunken Roman cabbie was a veritable paragon of automotive virtue in comparison.

I`m far from being politically expert or knowledgeable but when and if Islamic marxism becomes an entity if it does not already exist in some corner of some mind we will have a problem currently inconceivable.

Assuming that kindly old Irishman Mr Ryan has not sold my seat for a fistful of dollars or charges more than a few dollars more for all the crap I`ve bought at special prices just for me I look forward to a rain soaked airport very very soon. 

WILL ENGLAND FOLLOW SCOTLAND AND ABOLISH SHORT SENTENCES?

 08. Sep. 2010. @ 08:46:40 

It is often discussed whether events or people change the course of history. I make no effort to answer that question but certainly governments by their actions or inaction affect the flow of history and nowhere apart perhaps from the war in Iraq have events been changed between 1997 and now with more repercussions for Joe Public`s Scottish cousin Angus Public than in Scotland after devolution.

Recently the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill [Scotland] received Royal Assent. Amongst other measures in future children under twelve will not be tried in the Adult Court. The previous age was eight. In England and Wales the age is ten. Recent high profile cases involving children tried under English law in the Adult Court have attracted much criticism. And that leads to the other major change soon to be effected north of the border; short term sentences under three months will be abolished in favour of “community payback”. This for me is truly disturbing. I am firmly in the “prison works” camp. The arguments for and against are well known and don`t need repeating here. 

When a momentous radical step such as this takes place it is almost impossible to reverse the decision even when rational argument for a change back is virtually unanswerable……..the altered situation has become the norm. Examples which come to mind are the NHS mantra of no charge at point of care or some such similar phrase or the British police is not an armed force. In both cases policy changes are activated through the back door. 

Often where Scotland leads England follows. I sincerely hope that with short sentences the exception will prove the rule. 

AN INSIDER SPEAKING OUT

 11:18:06 by TheJusticeofthePeace

As part of the fall out resulting from the proposed cash squeeze being imposed by the Coalition, the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office are deserving of the opprobrium being heaped upon them both from those controlled within their addresses at SW1 and those without. In the former category it seems that police and magistrates are falling apart at the seams in efforts to put the divergent viewpoints of both organisations.

Police chief has followed police chief in announcing impending Armageddon in our towns and cities. Using florid descriptions of what reductions in police officers would mean on the mean streets of Britain we should be prepared to lock up not just our daughters but everything moveable. If ever there were a case of trying to frighten the populace this is it. Forget the almost weekly reports that somewhere a police officer has been suspended or is being investigated for theft, assault, fraud, dangerous driving, rape, excessive overtime or whathaveyou the fact that they might have to increase their efficiency with fewer personnel is going to be ruinous for public safety. That is police chiefs with the exception so far of Tom Wood, ex police chief and former deputy chief constable of the Lothian and Borders force. 

In the Sunday Scotsman Sep 5th he argues that
"Inconvenient though it may be to the police federation argument, there is good evidence to suggest that crime rates rise and fall due to a number of socio-economic factors, with police numbers and efficiency having only a marginal effect." 

Whether serving senior officers would speak as freely as Mr Wood is doubtful. The pattern is to keep one`s mouth tightly shut until the first pension payment hits the bank account. But nevertheless I commend Mr Wood for his outspokenness.

Outspokenness is not a description deserving of praise that I would apply to the elected officers of the Magistrates Association. Both the Chairman and a Deputy have been justly criticised by many of their colleagues for their apparent approval of Courts in derelict shop premises in shopping centres from London to Manchester. They have tried vainly to backtrack. In addition it appears that another Deputy Chairman, one John Fassenfelt, has used an interview in the Kent News to propagate what appear to be his personal opinions on ASBOs when discussing government proposals to close magistrates’ courts in Ashford and Swale. He is certainly competent to discuss the Association`s policy on the proposals but his apparently personal opinions on the law published as they have been are given additional and undeserved weight by his office. In addition it appears that he is in direct contradiction of advice set out for Magistrates by the office of the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales under the title “Useful Information for Magistrates”. I quote an apposite couple of paragraphs below:-

What should I do if I don’t agree with a law that has been passed? 

All magistrates are required to obey the law and to enforce any law that is enacted. If you were to break any relevant law enacted by Parliament, or to refuse to enforce it, this would be likely to constitute conduct incompatible with the requirements of your office. If you believe you cannot enforce any relevant law, then you must immediately inform your Justices’ Clerk.

It is also important that magistrates maintain the dignity, standing and good reputation of the magistracy at all times. Those found to have brought the magistracy into disrepute are liable to disciplinary action. Before deciding to express in public your personal views on any sensitive or controversial issue, you must consider carefully how your position might be perceived by those who come before you in court, and the implications it might have for wider public confidence in the administration of justice. 

It is a pound to a penny that unlike some of his fellow J.P.s Mr Deputy Chairman Fassenfelt will not be disciplined more`s the pity. The rules do not exempt officers of the Magistrates` Association when they comment in an undisguised personal capacity. He should learn when to hold his tongue. 

Since these proposals on court closures have seen the light of day J.P. upon J.P. has been quoted in local press about the iniquity of his/her local court being closed with local M.P.s jumping on the bandwagon. I have opined that J.P.s should shut up and allow nationally elected officers to put forward realistic counter proposals. For M.P.s it`s a win win situation for even the most reticent of our representatives to ally themselves with anti closure big mouths. As I blogged August 25th even Maria Eagle M.P. a former Justice Minister has misrepresented the facts to gain a few political brownie points. 

I can comment on police matters as an interested outsider. I comment on matters concerning the Magistracy as an insider. And as an insider I despair of the organisation which purports to serve my interests.