Law: In brief
01 May 1992
* Colonial justice in Newcastle: Judge Angus MacDonald former resident magistrate in colonial Nyasaland, locked up twelve men for cheering at their friend's acquittal at Newcastle Crown Court. Ten of the men spent the night at Durham's maximum security prison, after the judge hauled them out of the public gallery into the dock for their "most unseemly outburst". At least one of the men is taking legal advice about suing the judge, whom Madeleine Colvin of Liberty accused of an outrageous abuse of power.
Times 3.4.92.
* Tags gone: The Home Office announced that the introduction of electronic tagging combined with curfew orders to control defendants on bail is to be "indefinitely postponed". The announcement followed a disastrous pilot scheme in 1990, when most defendants tore off the tags and ignored the curfews, and 200 "technical problems" were reported in 49 cases. A consultation paper is to be issued "shortly", said the Home Office.
Independent 22.2.92.
* Privatising magistrates? Magistrates and their clerks are among those who are unhappy about the white paper on magistrates' courts, 'A new framework for local justice', announced by the Lord Chancellor and the Home Secretary on 26 February 1992. The white paper calls for an improved service and value for money, and proposes the introduction of business criteria and practices such as time management. Critics fear that the proposals will lead to "unproductive" courts closing, while others come under pressure to reduce the length of cases, which could result in injustice to defendants. The Lord Chancellor's Department took over the running of magistrates' courts from the Home Office on 1 April.
Lord Chancellor's Department press release 26.2.92.
* Certificated crime? One of the first directives to magistrates from the Lord Chancellor's Department tells them to refuse legal aid unless defendants can produce wage slips or DSS documents for the three months prior to their arrest. For those arrested and detained in custody before being brought to court, it means that they cannot get legal aid even for a bail application, unless they had the documents with them when they were arrested, or can arrange for someone else to bring them to court. The directive is already causing cases to be adjourned while defendants spend more time in custody, unable to obtain legal assistance. In time, this could lead to arrests on suspicion for possession of 13 weeks' wage slips: "I suspected the defendant of being about to commit a burglary because he was carrying wage slips in anticipation of being arrested."
Independent 16.4.92.