Douglas Carswell's Blog

Lenient justice - who will judge the judges?

The great Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, has uncovered the startling fact that over the course of a year, not a single one of the 10,000 burglars brought before the courts was awarded the maximum sentence.

This raises the question of whether burglars actually face justice at all.  Might it be that those who preside over our criminal justice system - especially judges - are in thrall to the idea that justice is about rehabilitating wrong-doers, rather than punishing them?  

We've had decades of politicians promising us a "get tough" approach.  With a few notable exceptions, nothing in the criminal justice system seems to really change.

Perhaps we should consider making those who run the criminal justice system more directly accountable to the rest of us.  Who, for example, gets to be a judge?  Is it right that they are appointed by quangocrats on a Judicial Appointments panel?

While the judiciary need to be independent, perhaps we could have a spot of democratic scrutiny before people were appointed to the judiciary?  What about pre-appointment confirmation hearings?  Why can't the candidate for promotion on the bench have their record of administering justice debated in public first?

Until we find ways of making the judiciary accountable to the rest of us, the judiciary will be dominated by lenient judges who favour rehabilitation over punishment.

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