Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

One of the consequences of government funding cuts was the elimination of financial support for the Public Legal Education Network – a group that was doing important and innovative work to promote better public understanding of law.

Frankly I was not sure where this initiative had got to. However in the last couple of days I received a newsletter telling me that the network has reconstituted itself as Law for Life: the Foundation for Public Legal Education and that there will be a relaunch of this work in early 2012.

Among other recent activity, they have secured funding for participating in research into adult legal education in Europe; they are about to publish the results of work they have done with Bristol University; and they continue to promote the Street Law programme.

Full details are still on their old website: http://www.plenet.org.uk/
but you can sign up to their newsletter to keep in touch with developments as they unfurl.

Unlike the situation in many other countries, the televising of court proceedings has not been a central feature of the English Legal System.

There are signs of significant change on the horizon.

First, the Supreme Court has already decided not only to let television companies make documentary programmes about its work (see this blog Feb 2011) but also to enable Sky TV viewers to see full broadcasts of its proceedings. For further details see http://news.sky.com/home/supreme-court.

Second, Justice Minister Ken Clarke has announced that limited televising of proceedings will be allowed. Initially this will be limited to the Court of Appeal where filming will be of judges’ summary remarks only;  victims, witnesses, offenders and jurors will not be filmed. He has stated that this may be extended to the Crown Court at a later date.

This second step will not take place overnight, however. Legislative change is required to repeal  Section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 and Section 9 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, which currently forbid the broadcasting of court proceedings. See further http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/press-releases/moj/moj-newsrelease060911a.htm.

One consequence of these developments may be that members of the public who think that most cases are heard by courts will be reinforced in this view, whereas readers of the book will know that in every area of the law, save perhaps family law, great number of issues are disposed of outside court proceedings.

Nonetheless, I welcome this development and suspect that in a year or two people will wonder why we took so long to reach this position.

Two recent announcements from the Ministry of Justice have been concerned with the interaction between young people and the law.

The first, called the ‘London Justice Programme’ is the latest initiative of the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law. Though based in Nottingham, the Centre has been seeking to develop national initiatives, of which the London Justice Programme is the latest development. At present there is not a lot of detail on what the programme involves, but it does provide opportunities for children at school to visit courts, hold mock trials there, and more generally become more aware of the legal system. The announcement at http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/features/feature170511a.htm provides a link to a video which gives the flavour of what is on offer.

There has also been an announcement about a new DVD – made by the Halton and Warrington Youth Offending Team (which comes under the Youth Justice Board) – which seeks to explain how restorative justice works and the demands that restorative justice measures make on those subject to them. The press announcement suggests that the DVD will be available from the YJB, but my researches do not currently indicate how it may be viewed. But it could be a useful source of information about restorative justice, challenging the perception that it is a ‘soft option’. For the press announcement, see http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/press-releases/yjb/yjb-news-release-20may2011a.htm

Television plays usually portray judges wearing wigs and robes. In serious criminal trials decided in the crown court this is unchanged. However, such cases aside, the reality is that for the majority of cases (including tribunal cases) judges wear ordinary business suits. For civil and family cases, since 1 October 2008, judicial wigs and gowns have been replaced – save for ceremonial occasions – by much simpler gowns. You can see these by clicking on http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/about_judiciary/court_dress/index.htm and following the links.

An important recent government initiative – offering resources for teachers and schoolchildren can be found at the recently launched Your Justice, Your World website, http://moj.edcoms-playground.co.uk/moj_apr09/index.php. Very interactive and rather different from normal government websites. Give it a try and let mw know what you think of it.

There is not much point in governments making law that ordinary people either don’t understand or know anything about. The Public Legal Education Network – seeks to do something about the general public’s legal ignorance. Their latest newsletter is at http://www.plenet.org.uk/newsletter/templates/22/newsletter.html?p=t&id=717&hash=bbf108&list=live-group.

Among the issues discussed relates to young people’s awareness of law. There is a report that young people, who may benefit particularly from legal assistance, are not comfortable meeting professional people, preferring family and friends for advice – even though that may be less well informed.

How do you think that ordinary people, and especially young people, could become better informed about those areas of law that might particularly affect them?