Don’t make me laugh!

I can’t say I’m surprised by the intention in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill currently before Parliament to repeal the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to increase magistrates sentencing powers to 12 months, so much for Cameron’s tough talk on sentencing, but I’m appalled at the proposals to restrict the powers of the courts to remand in custody those whom the court pre-supposes are unlikely to receive a prison sentence.

What pray will happen to the prolific shoplifter, who commits offences never quite serious enough to warrant imprisonment but nevertheless will, as soon as he/she is released on bail, go on another spree of minor offending?
Or what about the common assault cases, now downgraded by the government’s poodle the Sentencing Council so that custody is unlikely ever to be an option, but where the court has substantial grounds for believing the defendant will, if granted bail, interfere with witnesses and so pervert the course of justice?

It is all too common in cases of petty violence, especially those involving Domestic Violence, for the victim to fear intimidation and/or further violence from the defendant and where only a custodial remand can properly protect the victim, even where the current guidelines effectively prevent the courts from passing a prison sentence for the actual offence.

And then there are those for whom conditional bail, bail with conditions of residence, reporting or non-communication either with co-defendants or witnesses, is routinely ignored. The courts only sanction for someone who will not comply with their bail conditions is to remand them in custody but even this will now disappear if:
“it appears to the justice of the peace that there is no real
prospect that the person will be sentenced to a custodial
sentence in the proceedings”.

These proposals are at best a ‘bail-bandit’s’ charter and at worst will lead to even more ineffective trials due to witness intimidation and therefore a denial of justice.

Punishment of offenders? – Don’t make me laugh!