Jury service forces Cherie Booth to miss start of prisons inquiry
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Saturday July 21, 2007
The Guardian
Cherie Booth QC missed the first meeting of an inquiry into English prisons yesterday because she has been on jury service. Her stint in the jury room is believed to have included sitting on at least one case.
The exemption that allowed judges, lawyers, doctors and other professionals to be excused jury service was ended by David Blunkett when he was home secretary who argued that it amounted to a "middle-class cop out".
Judges and leading barristers such as Ms Booth are now encouraged to serve but are warned it is simpler not to reveal their legal background to their fellow jurors. Most judges have no problem in doing this but Ms Booth's instantly recognisable face will make this problematic.
She would have had to stand down from serving on a jury in any case in which she personally knew the judge or barristers. It is believed her period of jury service began shortly after the Blairs left Downing Street and it has delayed the family holiday.
The experience should stand her in good stead in her role as the president of the Commission on English Prisons Today, which includes leading criminologists, serving prisoners, the Parole Board chairman, crime victims, as well as former prison governors and chief probation officers. It also includes people from outside the criminal justice system.
David Wilson, who is chairing the commission, said that with the jail population at an all-time high the inquiry will investigate the purpose and proper extent of the use of prison and examine the issues which drive up prison numbers. It will also investigate the greater use of alternatives, including restorative justice, and look at what is happening in Scotland and Canada.
The commission, which has been organised by the Howard League for Penal Reform, is modelled on a similar body which reported in 1922 at a time when the prison population in England and Wales halved from 22,029 to just over 11,000 between 1908 and 1939 and 20 prisons closed. The jail population in England and Wales yesterday stood at 79,979.
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
If that cow was sitting as a juror on any case I was being tried for I think I would prefer to be chucked into chokey straight away to avoid having to look at her.
ReplyDelete