Douglas Carswell's Blog

Why can't our justice system work like this all the time?

Some of those guilty of rioting and looting last week have already received some stiff prison sentences.

The public prosecutors have discovered that cases can actually be brought to trial swiftly. The courts have discovered that the Sentencing Council's softly-softly guidelines can be tossed aside. Offenders are being sent down as a result.

Imagine if our criminal justice system worked like this all the time?

I can't help feeling that our prosecutors and courts are getting their act together because they sense the public outrage with what happened on our streets. Those who preside over it grasp that if they don't administer justice, the law abiding majority might be open to the idea of fundamental change in the criminal justice system.

They know that Police Authorities are for the chop, to be replaced by directly elected sheriffs (or police commissioners). Perhaps if our courts, judges and prosecutors fail to administer justice, folk might start to ask questions about their accountability? People might begin to wonder who voted for the Sentencing Council?

It seems that those who run the justice system can respond to public concerns after all. Perhaps if judges, magistrates and public prosecutors had to answer to the law abiding majority all the time, we might start to get effective justice all the time.

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