Summary: Ultimately it is poor admin and not juries which causes inefficiencies and delays in the British justice system. It is broken as are so many of the publicly run services in this benighted country.
Lammy, the Justice Secretary, is a fool. He thinks that if he bans juries from many criminal trials it will help to speed up the justice system in the UK. In short he blames juries for slowing it all down. WRONG! Very wrong according to those who know (KCs) and Lucy Bannerman of The Times whose article today, 27th December, blames extremely poor administration as the cause while strongly hinting one of the problems is the police in acting far too slowly (I can vouch for their dilatory pace) and the CPS.
There are other problems. She visited Snaresbrook Crown Court where there are 20 court rooms.
They are rarely fully utilised. When she was there 15 were in operation. She refers to one case which was at the sentencing stage. The judge was waiting for the victim’s impact statement and had ordered that it be delivered to the court in August.
It turned up on the day of the hearing (believed to be a day in December) minutes before the hearing commenced. Too late, which exasperated the judge and put back the hearing further to February, two years after the offence occurred. But that is fast! Cases can take far longer (think 5 years!).
Lucy thought that Snaresbrook would be a hive of activity; perhaps like Liverpool Street Station (my analogy). But no. Silence and a sense that little was happening pervades the place; an accurate reflection as it happened.
The cause of the 80,000 case backlog which will result in injustices is due to lousy admin and it appears a lack of commitment from organisers and the government to make the justice system efficient. It appears to be grossly inefficient in true British style.
The justice system as a hole reminds me of the UK police – a part of the justice system – who appear to be perpetually sitting on their hands in the office or sitting in their cars with the radio on and cup of Costa coffee in the centre consol.
In the case I have mentioned above the convicted offender is a 59-year-old man, William Pack, and the victim is Misbah Sadique. The names made me think. Is the reason why the police were allegedly unable to contact Sadique for her statement because she is Asian?
Did the police want the case to fizzle out or at least inconvenience the victim? We know that there is a lot of racism in the police. And corruption.
The British police have, in my view, completely lost their way and the trust of the British public. They are nothing short of a shameful, corrupt shambles in my personal experience. They would say otherwise but all the signs are that there is something deeply wrong with the police.
Other inefficiencies causing delays in the UK justice system are:
- Late arrival of documents.
- No show of defendants because transport (private) is screwed up.
- No show of CPS.
- No show of interpreter.
“Instead of justice being served, the lights are off and the doors are closed, leaving the accused, the aggrieved and everyone else to join the back of a lengthening queue.” – Lucy Bannerman
Also the sitting days (when courts are working) are capped at 105,000 annually when there is space and time for 113,ooo sittings for financial reasons.
Infrastructure is crumbling in some courts, once again due to under-financing.
It is a mess. As mentioned ‘broken’ to a large extent and a disgrace. Such a shame too as British justice is renown throughout the world to be of a high standard.
P.S. Jury trials in the UK ultimately date back to Magna Carta (1215) as I recall. Here is Jacob Rees-Mogg’s argument for keeping them:
Jacob Rees-Mogg is somebody I believe who should be listened to because he has a clarity of thought, which is impressive and I would argue far superior to the vast majority of Members of Parliament in the UK. He has a fantastic grasp of history, and he presents his arguments clearly. He has the skill to get to the core of issues which is the mark of a good thinker.
