As the Coalition Government marches towards its date with destiny and the great British public in October, some departments are in warp drive to achieve the necessary savings to balance the budget.
Leading the drive, and with well aimed publicity, is Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary. He has already signalled the closure of hundreds of courts, the reduction of legal aid across the board, and the burgeoning prison population.
Next on his agenda is the discount to be expected on a custodial sentence in return for an early plea of guilty. This achieves two laudable aims: the first is that prison sentences will be shorter, and so relieving the chronic overcrowding; and the second is the enormous saving of court time.
Under the present nebulous regime, the defendant is entitled to a one third discount for a plea of guilty to be indicated “at the first opportunity”. The jury are out on the exact meaning of this.
Statistics show that the number of defendants who take their case to the door of the court before pleading guilty is over 70%. The cost involved in allotting the necessary court time, assembling a jury panel, getting the witnesses to court, together with solicitors and counsel, is enormous, and it is this ‘waste’ of time and money that Kenneth Clarke now seeks to address.
I am all in favour of discounts for early pleas of guilty, but it may not be as easy as first imagined. The biggest problem from the outset is the charging process, invariably in the hands of the local Crown Prosecution lawyer. Time and again they either overcharge, or prefer the wrong charges, and being civil servants, they won’t be told. This places the burden on the defendant to show that he would have pleaded guilty from the outset to the proper charge, but it is unattractive.
If this initial obstacle can be surmounted, then a fixed discount tariff can be applied, with a 50% starting point for a full and frank confession before charge. The suggestion that a 10% discount for a guilty plea at the door of the court simply won’t work, as the wavering defendant might decide to chance his arm with the jury, and he has very little to lose.
Keep the 30% discount, even at the door of the court, and with discounts between 50% and 30% on offer, this should make a real difference.
David Osborne
David was called to the English Bar in 1974 and to the Irish Bar in 1986. He is head of his own chambers based in London and Somerset. He offers specialist advice and representation in a wide variety of legal disciplines, and is accredited by the Bar Council to accept instructions direct from lay clients.
During his long and successful career, David has appeared in the highest courts in the land, including the Old Bailey, the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. He is the author of the popular blog, The Barrister Bard. You can visit his website at http://www.david-osborne.com.
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