Earlier this week the Ministry of
Justice greeted the latest criminal justice statistics by celebrating record levels
of prison sentences given to sex offenders in 2014. Their press release not
only welcomed the harsher punishments given to the 6000 of these offenders
sentenced last year. The Government seemed keen to publicise the fact that prison
sentences for all offenders have been getting longer and that the proportion of
serious offences given a community sentence has declined. They see as positive too
the fall in the use of so-called out of court disposals- police cautions and
warnings usually given for petty offences.
The consequences of the last of these
trends is being shown daily in the Howard League’s excellent campaign to end
the criminal courts charge. Not only are the Howard League highlighting the
injustice and absurdity of imposing additional financial penalties on
defendants whose criminality is born of poverty and desperation but raising the
question on why on earth some of these petty offences are being brought to
court at all. Just as most of the public came to see it as crazy to ban
prisoners from receiving books through the post, so surely will a majority eventually
accept that thefts of small amounts of food, begging,or drunkenness cry out for a
problem solving response rather than a punitive one.
The use of courts for these kind of misdemeanours seems part of a broader pattern of criminalisation. The criminal statistics reveal an increase in the numbers of summary offences – the least serious- being prosecuted and sentenced. This is apparently due mainly to an increase in speed limit, vehicle insurance and TV licence offences. Other non-motoring summary offences that continued to rise during the year and the last decade include littering and truancy.
Separately this week we learned more details of the 16,000 parents prosecuted for failing to secure their children’s attendance at school, 18 of whom (ten mothers) ended up in prison. This week also saw an expensive Old Bailey trial resulting in a couple fined £1000 for outraging public decency; the judge blamed the defendants for maintaining their innocence but could easily have criticised the CPS for continuing a prosecution which while of significant interest to the public was hardly in the public interest.
The use of courts for these kind of misdemeanours seems part of a broader pattern of criminalisation. The criminal statistics reveal an increase in the numbers of summary offences – the least serious- being prosecuted and sentenced. This is apparently due mainly to an increase in speed limit, vehicle insurance and TV licence offences. Other non-motoring summary offences that continued to rise during the year and the last decade include littering and truancy.
Separately this week we learned more details of the 16,000 parents prosecuted for failing to secure their children’s attendance at school, 18 of whom (ten mothers) ended up in prison. This week also saw an expensive Old Bailey trial resulting in a couple fined £1000 for outraging public decency; the judge blamed the defendants for maintaining their innocence but could easily have criticised the CPS for continuing a prosecution which while of significant interest to the public was hardly in the public interest.
Excellent Rob !! bang on !!
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ReplyDeleteSpot on. I wrote something similar a while ago about the situation in Ireland http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/it-s-a-tough-sell-but-we-need-to-deal-with-violent-young-men-in-a-more-nuanced-way-1.2238931
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