The Introduction of the Law Society’s Recommendations of 28 Days in Police Bail means there would be the correct LEGAL PROCEDURES in place to help Defendants held to get Justice where the Evidence gathered would be gathered in a due time period helping with the whole process of Arrest (PACE 1984) Charging, Evidence Gathering before the Trial, The Trial itself (Advocacy/Client Representation) meaning a better quality of Judgments.
Good Judgments help create better Standard of Lawyering which thrives on excellent Judgments as well as properly drafted and debated Legislation.
Analysis
Use of FOI (Freedom of Information Requests) to get the Information for the Research
Lawyers: CPS (The CPS have been going downhill with cuts to the Service, top-down reorganisations meaning that the CPS can’t do job they are meant to do from #SaveUKJustice observed convos)
Legislation: PACE 1984 The Article points out a Key Deficiency in the Act namely that Suspects are not given a Time Frame to be held before charging.
Robins argues for the Law Society’s Recommendation of 28 Days in Custody before Police have to apply to the Court for more time.
Organisations: The Law Society Recommendations that Police Bailing of Defendants should be just for 28 Days with applications/reapplications to The Court (Mags/Crown, surely Crown?) being done to extend the Time Period.
The Problems
Endless Bail means reputations are ruined, people lose their jobs (Neil Wallis and Freddie Starr cited in Article) a situation that is clearly an Injustice.
Defendants are held in legal limbo. If the process moved forward as it should then it would help there to be correct Charging/Evidence Gathering/Trialing Processes.
Police Evidence Gathering or not affects Client Representation or Advocacy as they call it in The Trade The Quality of Advocacy affects Judgments http://www.bailii.org/ and affects Due Process and the Rule of Law. Human Rights violated: Article 6 Right to a Fair Trial. Negative impacts of those held in Custody are like a type of Criminalisation which is unlawful?
Other Factors affecting the Legal Process
The Pauperization of the Bar meaning experienced qualified Members of the Criminal Bar are forced to leave the Profession they love and or Pupil Barristers are not able to accept Tenancy because they cannot afford to live, pay off Student Loan, pay off Mortgage, big life commitments marriage and children, Professional Costs ie paying for Wig ( save uk justice article CITE HERE)
The Police are lacking in accountability further complicating the process. Making the Police accountable for Evidence gathering would help Justice being done helping the Defendants.
The Interpreters Crisis SERCO etc providing Interpreters meaning Interpretation does not go on in Court as it should.
Privatisation of Defendant delivery Services ie Vans means Defendants are not delivered on time to the Court.
Incorrect Court Listings
Defendants not able to get Legal Aid meaning access to the Courts is limited to a very few Cases and the fig leaf of Exceptional Causes Funding? mean very few Cases are awarded it.
Statistics HERE.(from #saveukjustice Campaign)
http://www.criminallawandjustice.co.uk/comment/Police-Bail
‘the abuse of endless bail’
Building Cases becomes difficult meaning there are more likely to create Miscarriages of Justice ( Another Post by me as a result of convo with @Mark George QC KEY KEY)
Evidence and Evidence Gathering by The Police
“Generally an investigation that cannot be done immediately is not done at all,” said the authors by senior District Judge Howard Riddle and Judge Kinch QC, the resident Judge at Woolwich Crown Court. “The effect of bailing a defendant for a lengthy time is for the investigation to lose impetus; for evidence to become mislaid; and for witnesses to move on, or to be unwilling to attend court.”
Notes from Criminal Law and Justice Weekly
Category: Straightforward Agreement with what Author Jon Robins says.
Author Category: Barrister in Chambers
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#dontlethegovernmentdismantleourcriminaljusticesystem
Supporting UK Justice: For the Defence! by a layman 