The Secret Barrister

by The Secret Barrister

  10. Otterburn Legal Consulting, ‘Transforming Legal Aid: Next Steps. A Report for the Law Society of England and Wales and the Ministry of Justice’ February 2014. https:­//­con­sult.jus­tice.gov.uk/­digi­tal-commu­nica­tions/­trans­for­ming-le­gal-aid-next-steps­/re­sults/­otter­burn-le­gal-con­sul­ting-a-re­port-for-the-law-so­ciety-and-moj.pdf

  11. The Report stated: ‘The supplier based is not financially robust and is very vulnerable to any destabilizing events . . . There are very few firms which can sustain the overall reduction in fees . . . which would be very much greater than 17.5 per cent in some parts of the country’, ibid., pp.5–8.

  12. See, for example, then Justice Secretary Michael Gove MP’s speech to the Legatum Institute on 23 June 2015, https:­//­www.gov.uk/­go­vern­ment­/spee­ches/­what-does-a-one-na­tion-jus­tice-po­licy-look-like

  13. See, for example, ‘Touting situation is deteriorating’, The Law Gazette, 10 August 2016, https:­//­www.law­gazette.co.uk/­ana­lysis/­com­ment-and-opi­nion/­tou­ting-si­tua­tion-is-dete­riora­ting/­505­7070.ar­ticle?utm_sour­ce=dis­patch&utm_­me­dium=e­mail&utm_­cam­paign=GAZ10­082016

  7. Legal Aid Myths and the Innocence Tax

  1. http:­//­www.­jona­thand­janogly.com/­con­tent­/jona­than-dj­ano­gly-spe­aks-cam­bridge-u­nion-de­bate

  2. I am indebted for my understanding of the history of legal aid to the research of the late Court of Appeal Judge Sir Henry Brooke, whose invaluable personal website (www.sirhenrybrooke.me) is indispensable reading for anyone interested in justice. Any errors or misinterpretations of his endeavours in my efforts to extract a skeletal outline from his in-depth study are entirely my errors, and the credit for the intellectual toil and time-consuming research is entirely his.

  3. Roger Bowles and Amanda Perry, ‘International comparison of publicly funded legal services and justice systems’, University of York, Ministry of Justice Research Series 14/09, October 2009, http:­//­217.35.77.12­/­CB/­eng­land­/re­search/­pdfs/2009­/com­parison-pub­lic-fund-le­gal-ser­vices-jus­tice-sys­tems.pdf

  4. National Audit Office, Ministry of Justice, ‘Comparing International Criminal Justice Systems’, March 2012, https:­//­www.nao.org.uk/­wp-con­tent/­up­loads/­2012/03/­NAO_Brie­fing_Com­paring_­In­terna­tional_Cri­minal_­Jus­tice.pdf

  5. Ministry of Justice, Legal Aid Statistics in England and Wales, January to March 2017 (29 June 2017), https:­//­www.gov.uk/­govern­ment­/up­loads/­sys­tem/­up­loads/­attach­ment_data/­file/­631334/­leg­al-aid-sta­tis­tics-bu­lletin-jan-mar-2017.pdf

  6. Bar Council Response to Transforming Legal Aid Next Steps (2014), http:­//­www.bar­coun­cil.org.uk/­media/235755/­bar_coun­cil_res­ponse_to_the_­trans­for­ming_le­gal_aid__next_­steps__final.pdf

  7. ‘Labour has created 3,600 new offences since 1997’, Telegraph, 4 September 2008, http:­//­www.tele­graph.co.uk/­news/­uknews­/267­9148/­La­bour-has-crea­ted-3600-new-offen­ces-since-1997.html

  8. Sir Henry Brooke, ‘The history of legal aid, 1945–2010’, https:­//­sir­henry­brooke.me/­2016­/07­/16­/the-his­tory-of-le­gal-aid-1945-to-2010/

  9. House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee, ‘Implementation of the Carter Review of Legal Aid’, 3rd Report of Session 2006–7 at [27], http:­//­www.­pub­lica­tions.par­liament.uk/­pa/­cm200607­/cm­select/­cm­const­/223/223i.pdf

  10. Channel 4 News Fact Check, ‘Should barristers keep their wigs on?’, 6 January 2014, https:­//­www.cha­nnel4.com­/­news­/fact­check­/fact­check-vio­lins-barris­ters

  11. The Aldi Area Manager Graduate Scheme offers a starting salary of £44,000, rising to £73,450 after four years, with a fully-expensed Audi A4 thrown in. https:­//­www.­al­direc­ruitment.co.uk/­graduate [accessed 16 August 2017]

  12. ‘Labour Peer condemns legal aid cuts’, Guardian, 2 May 2012, https:­//­www.the­guar­dian.com/­law­/2012­/may­/02­/la­bour-peer-le­gal-aid-cuts

  13. ‘Domestic violence victims forced to face abusers in court due to legal aid cuts’, Guardian, 28 January 2016, https:­//­www.the­guar­dian.com­/­law­/2016­/jan­/28/­do­mes­tic-vio­lence-vic­tims-for­ced-to-face-abu­sers-in-court-due-to-legal-aid-cuts

  14. ‘Cuts to legal aid have “decimated access to justice” for thousands of the most vulnerable’, Amnesty International UK Press Release, 10 October 2016, https:­//­www.am­nesty.org.uk/­press-re­leases/­cuts-le­gal-aid-have-deci­mated-ac­cess-jus­tice-thou­sands-most-vul­nerable

  15. ‘Public handed bill for celebrity legal aid as acquitted stars claim massive fees’, Mirror, 27 June 2011, http:­//­www.mir­ror.co.uk/­news/­uk-news/­pub­lic-han­ded-bill-for-cele­brity-legal-13­7655

  16. ‘MP Nigel Evans: Trial made me realize impact of legal aid cuts’, ITV News, 14 April 2014, http:­//­www.itv.com/­news­/sto­ry/­2014-04-13/­nigel-ev­ans-wants-cps-to-pay-130k-legal-bills/

  17. Section 16A of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985.

  18. Bar Code of Conduct, Rule C29, https:­//­www.­bar­standards­board.org.uk/­media­/1731­225­/bsb_­handb­ook_sept_2015.pdf

  19. R (The Law Society of England and Wales) v The Lord Chancellor [2010] EWHC 1406 (Admin), http:­//­www.bai­lii.org/­ew/­cases/EWHC­/Admin­/­2010­/1406.html

  20. R (Henderson) v Secretary of State for Justice [2015] EWHC 130 (Admin), http:­//­www.bai­lii.org/­ew/­cases/EWHC­/Admin/­2015­/130.html

  21. Section 17 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985.

  22. Practice Direction (Costs in Criminal Proceedings) [2013] EWCA Crim 1632, §2.6.

  23. ‘MoJ refuses to publish research on unrepresented defendants’, Law Society Gazette, 31 March 2017, https:­//­www.law­gaze­tte.co.uk/­law/­moj-re­fuses-to-pub­lish-re­search-on-un­repre­sented-de­fendants­/5060­489.article

  24. Transform Justice, ‘Justice Denied? The experience of unrepresented defendants in the criminal courts’, April 2016, http:­//­www.­trans­form­jus­tice.org.uk/­wp-con­tent/up­loads/­2016/­04/TJ-APRIL_Sin­gles.pdf

  25. Transform Justice, ‘Innocent but broke – rough justice?’, October 2015, http:­//­www.­trans­form­justice.org.uk­/­wp-con­tent­/up­loads­/2015­/10­/­TRANSFORM-JUSTICE-INNOCENT-BUT-BROKE.pdf

  26. ‘Budget 2014: Beer duty cut by 1p’, BBC News, 19 March 2014, http://www.bbc.co.uk/­news­/bu­siness-266­44768

  8. Trial on Trial: Part I – The Case Against

  1. Archbold: Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice 2017, Sweet & Maxwell, 2016, §8–217.

  2. Section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.

  3. R L Lerner, ‘The Intersection of Two Systems: An American on trial for an American Murder in the French Court d’Assisses’ (2001) 19, University of Illinois Law Review 791 at 796.

  4. J Doak, C McGourlay and M Thomas, Evidence in Context, 3rd ed, Routledge, 2012, pp.34–42.

  5. J H Langbein, The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial, Oxford University Press, 2005.

  9. Trial on Trial: Part II – The Case for the Defence

  1. W Wemms, J Hodgson, The Trial of the British Soldiers, of the 29th Regiment of Foot, Boston, 1770.

  2. The details of Warren Blackwell’s case are taken from the Court of Appeal judgment in his successful appeal on 12 September 2006 (R v Blackwell [2006] EWCA Crim 2185) and the Independent Police Complaints Commission Report concerning complaints made by Mr Warren Blackwell against officers from Northamptonshire Police, published 18 June 2010, https:­/­/­www.ipcc.gov.uk­/­­sites­/­default­/­files­/­Documents­/­­investigation_commissioner_­reports­/­redacted_blackwell_­report.pdf

  3. ‘IPCC publishes findings from investigation into Warren Blackwell’s complaints against Northamptonshire Police’, 18 June 2010, https:­/­/­www.ipcc.gov.uk­/­­cy­/­node­/­19345

  4. ‘109 women prosecuted for false rape claims in five years, say campaigners’, Guardian, 1 December 2014, https:­//­www.the­guar­dian.com/­law/­2014/­dec/­
01/109-wo­men-pro­secu­ted-false-ra­pe-alle­gations

  5. ‘Violence Against Women and Girls Crime Report 2015–16’, Crown Prosecution Service, September 2016, p.6, http:­//­www.cps.gov.uk/­pub­lica­tions­/docs/­cps_va­wg_re­port_2016.pdf

  6. See HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, ‘Crime-recording: making the victim count’, November 2014, http:­//­www.­jus­tice­ins­pec­torates.gov.uk/­hmicfrs­/wp-con­tent/up­loads/­cri­me-reco­rding-ma­king-the-vic­tim-count.pdf

  7. Figures and quotes taken from HMCPSI and HMIC, ‘Making it fair: The disclosure of unused material in volume Crown Court cases’, 18 July 2017, http:­//­www.­jus­tice­ins­pec­torates.gov.uk/­hmcpsi­/ins­pections/­ma­king-it-fair-the-dis­clo­sure-of-un­used-ma­te­rial-in-vol­ume-crown-court-cases/

  8. https:­//­www.­jus­tice­ins­pec­tora­tes.gov.uk/­hmcpsi/wp-con­tent/up­loads­/si­tes/3/20­16/­02/RASSO­_thm_Feb16_rpt.pdf

  9. R v Tsekiri [2017] EWCA Crim 40.

  10. See, for further information, the website maintained by Sally Clark’s family at: www.sallyclark.org.uk

  11. Forensic Science Regulator, Annual Report 2016, 6 January 2017, p.7 https:­//­www.gov.uk/­govern­ment/pub­lica­tions/­foren­sic-scie­nce-regu­lator-an­nual-report-2016

  12. Ibid., p.17.

  13. ‘Police “sorry” over Rochdale child abuse failures’, BBC News, 13 March 2015, http:­//­www.bbc.co.uk­/­news/uk-eng­land-man­chester-3185­7066

  14. ‘Revealed: conspiracy of silence on UK sex gangs’, The Times, 5 January 2011, https:­//­www.the­times.co.uk/­ar­ticle­/re­vealed-cons­piracy-of-si­lence-on-uk-sex-gangs-gpg5­vqsqz9h

  15. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, ‘Mistakes were made: HMIC’s Review into allegations and intelligence material concerning Jimmy Savile between 1964 and 2012’, 12 March 2013, http:­//­www.­jus­tice­inspec­torates.gov.uk/­hmic­frs/pub­lica­tions­/mis­takes-were-made/

  16. ‘Operation Midland: how the Met lost its way’, Guardian, 21 March 2016, https:­//­www.the­guar­dian.comu/­k-news­/2016­/mar­/21­/ope­ration-mid­land-met-po­lice-pae­dophile-ring/

  17. Code of Practice under Part II of Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996.

  18. Ibid., §2.1.

  19. Ibid., §3.5.

  20. ‘Operation Midland: how the Met lost its way’, op. cit.

  21. Sir Richard Henriques, ‘An Independent Review of the Metropolitan Police Service’s handling of non-recent sexual offence investigations alleged against persons of public prominence’, 31 October 2016, http:­//­news.met.pol­ice.uk/­docu­ments/­re­port-inde­pen­dent-re­view-of-metro­poli­tan-pol­ice-ser­vices-hand­ling-of-non-re­cent-se­xual-offence-inves­tiga­tions-61510, §1.21

  22. Cited in Henriques, ibid., at §1.21.

  23. Ibid., §1.13.

  24. Ibid., §1.16.

  25. Ibid., §1.32.

  26. ‘Operation Midland police fell for “false claims” of VIP abuse, report says’, Guardian, 8 November 2016, https:­//­www.the­guar­dian.com/­uk-news­/2016­/nov­/08/­opera­tion-mid­land-rid­dled-wi­th-met-pol­ice-err­ors-re­port-finds?CMP­=share_btn_tw

  27. ‘Operation Midland: Police helped Nick claim compensation for false allegations’, Daily Telegraph, 9 November 2016, http:­//­www.tele­graph.co.uk­/­news/­2016/11­/09/­ope­ration-mid­land-pol­ice-hel­ped-nick-claim-com­pensa­tion-for-fals/

  28. Taxquet v Belgium (2012) 54 EHRR 26 at [57].

  10. The Big Sentencing Con

  1. ‘Britain too soft on crime say 80 per cent of public, shock new survey reveals’, Mirror, 21 June 2014, http:­//­www.mir­ror.co.uk/­news­/uk-news­/bri­tain-soft-cri­me-say-80-3735­581

  2. ‘Judge and defendant exchange insults in court’, Guardian, 10 August 2016, https:­//­www.the­guardian.com/­uk-news­/2016­/aug/10­/judge-defen­dant-jo­hn-hen­nigan-ex­change-in­sults-che­lmsford-court

  3. Chris Grayling MP, ‘No more Sky subscriptions. No more 18 certificate DVDs. Why I’m launching today’s tougher prison regime’, 30 April 2013, http:­//­www.­con­serva­tivehome.com/­plat­form­/2013­/04­/chris-gray­ling-mp-em­bar­goed-un­til-0001-tue­sday-30th.html

  4. ‘Prison book ban is unlawful, court rules’, Guardian, 5 December 2014, https:­//­www.the­guar­dian.com/­society­/2014­/dec­/05/­pri­son-bo­ok-ban-un­lawful-court-chris-gray­ling

  5. O Eren and N Mocan, ‘Emotional Judges and Unlucky Juveniles’, September 2016, http://www.nber.org/­papers/w22611, reported in The Atlantic, ‘Judge’s Football Team Loses, Juvenile Sentences Go Up’, 7 September 2016, https:­//­www.the­atlan­tic.com/­edu­cation­/ar­chive­/2016­/09/­jud­ges-is­sue-lon­ger-sen­tences-when-their-col­lege-foot­ball-team-lo­ses/­498980/)

  6. ‘Switching to Daylight Saving Time May Lead to Harsher Legal Sentences’, Psychological Science, 14 December 2016, https:­//­www.­psy­cholo­gical­science.org/­news/relea­ses/­swit­ching-to-day­light-sa­ving-time-may-lead-to-har­sher-le­gal-sen­tences.html#.­WJCNKWVIhEI

  7. S Danziger, J Levav and L Avanaim-Pesso, ‘Extraneous factors in judicial decisions’, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 25 February 2011, http:­//­www.p­nas.org/­content/­108­/17/6889

  8. K Hopkins, N Uhrig and M Colahan, ‘Associations between ethnic background and being sentenced to prison in the Crown Court in England and Wales in 2015’, 16 November 2016, https:­//­www.gov.uk/­govern­ment/­statis­tics/­as­socia­tions-bet­ween-et­hnic-back­gro­und-and-be­ing-sen­ten­ced-to-pri­son-in-the-crown-co­urt-in-eng­land-and-wa­les-in-2015

  9. The analysis used seventeen broad ‘offence groups’, and compared defendants from different ethnic backgrounds within these groups. The groups each comprised a wide range of offences; for example ‘violence against the person’ included crimes ranging from common assault to murder, and drug offence categories did not distinguish between Class A and Class B offences, or between possession and supply. Furthermore, the statistical modelling did not take into account aggravating and mitigating features of the offences. Further analysis is therefore required into sentencing of specific offences, including aggravating and mitigating factors, before any meaningful comparisons might be drawn.

  10. See, for example, M R Banaji and A G Greenwald, Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Delacorte Press, 2013. The authors developed the famous Harvard Implicit Association Test, which has been widely employed to demonstrate hidden attitudes and beliefs that determine our preferences for certain groups over others.

  11. Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, Judicial Diversity Statistics 2016, https:­//­www.ju­di­ciary.gov.uk/­pub­lica­tions­/judi­cial-sta­tis­tics-2016/

  12. Law Commission, ‘Sentencing law in England and Wales: Legislation currently in force’, 9 October 2015, http:­//­www.law­com.gov.uk/­wp-con­tent/­up­loads/­2015/10/­Sen­tencing_law_in_Eng­land_­and_Wa­les_Issues.pdf

  13. At present, there is also a duty on the court to impose a Criminal Courts Charge (CCC) in each case. Due to the way in which Parliament repealed this ridiculous law, which required courts to charge penniless defendants hundreds of pounds that they could never pay, there now technically exists a duty on courts to impose a CCC in the sum of £0 in each case.

  14. Law Commission, ‘Sentencing law in England and Wales: Legislation currently in force’, op. cit., p.iii.

  15. R Banks, Banks on Sentence (8th ed), 2013, vol. 1, p.xii, as cited in Law Commission, ‘Sentencing Procedure Issues Paper 1: Transition’, 2015, http:­//­www.law­com.gov.uk/­wp-content­/up­loads­/2015­/06/­Sen­tencing-Proce­dure-Issues-Pa­per-Tran­sition-online.pdf

  16. R (Noone) v Governor of Drake Hall Prison & another [2008] EWHC 207 (Admin); [2008] ACD 43 at [1], as cited in ‘Sentencing Procedure Issues Paper 1’, op. cit., p.7.

  17. Ibid., [2010] UKSC 30 at [1].

  18. Section 174 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

  19.
Those serving a sentence of between three months and four years are eligible (subject to a risk assessment) for release between two weeks and four and a half months before the halfway stage, depending on the length of sentence.

  20. In fact, the only mention in legislation is at s.166 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which confirms that the common law principle of totality continues to apply.

  21. Section 125(1) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

  22. Drug Offences Definitive Guideline, Category 3 Significant Role (Supply of Class A); Sexual Offences Definitive Guideline, Category 3B (Rape); Fraud Definitive Guideline (Cheat the Revenue), Category 3A.

  23. Section 142(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

  24. Or a four-month Detention and Training Order for defendants aged sixteen or seventeen.

  25. Ministry of Justice (2016), Proven reoffending statistics quarterly: July 2013 to June 2014, London: Ministry of Justice, Tables C1a and C2a.

  26. House of Commons Briefing Paper, ‘UK Prison Population Statistics’, SN/SG/04334, 20 April 2017; Ministry of Justice (2017), ‘Population and capacity briefing for 16 June 2017’, London: Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Justice (2017) ‘Offender management statistics quarterly: October to December 2016’, London: Ministry of Justice. Cited in Prison Reform Trust, ‘Prison: the facts’ (2017), http:­//­www.­pri­son­reform­trust.org.uk/­Por­tals/0­/Docu­ments/­Broml­ey%20Brie­fings/­Summer%202017%­20factfile.pdf

  27. International Centre for Prison Studies website, http:­//­www.pri­son­studies.org/­high­est-to-lo­west/pri­son_­popu­lation_rate?fi­eld_re­gion_taxo­nomy_tid=14, accessed on 15 November 2017

  28. The average custodial sentence length for indictable offences in March 2007 was 15.3 months. In March 2017 the average sentence length for such offences was 19.5 months. Ministry of Justice, Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly, March 2017, https:­//­www.gov.uk/­govern­ment/­up­loads­/system­/­up­loads­/attach­ment_data­/file­/­638­225/­cjs-statis­tics-march-2017.pdf