Bystander   The CPS are shortly to begin their new ‘paperless as far as the door of the court’ document handling system. I wish them well and hope that the widely expressed fear that this will be just another Government IT fiasco proves to be groundless. The gossip grapevine tells me that local solicitors are  [ Read More ]

Lex Ferenda There has been some concern expressed from some quarters, including here, regarding the sentencing of those involved in the recent riots. Personally, I feel the District Judges and Crown Court Judges have not been politically influenced. I rather suspect that, having been constrained for years by our ludicrous sentencing guidelines, the Judges have  [ Read More ]

Lex Ferenda The Good You cannot help but admire the bravery and dignity of, Tariq Jahan, the father of one of the three young men killed in Birmingham on Tuesday night. How he managed to hold it together and speak to the media, I do not know. Rather than demanding justice he simply asked for  [ Read More ]

Bystander All we can do while riots are still going on is to support those who are tackling the trouble on the ground, and to wish them well. The criminal justice phase will begin shortly. I am not commenting on the system but here are some of the issues: Those arrested have to be taken  [ Read More ]

Bystander This really seems a step too far. When you think of the gravity of the case, much too serious for magistrates of course, the pre-sentence reports, the majesty of the Crown Court, the judge’s consideration, the solemn pronouncement of sentence, what did he end up with? Four months served, much of it probably on  [ Read More ]

Bystander I saw my second ever case of Causing Death By Careless Driving the other day. We were easily persuaded to send it to the Crown Court to be dealt with, despite the fact that it was a run-of-the-mill driving error, that had devastating consequences. I can’t say too much about it, but it came  [ Read More ]