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Have you ever wondered whether masturbation onto a pair of knickers is criminal damage? Or whether cocaine disguised as icing on a cake is a defence to drug driving?*

If you have, or even if you haven’t, spending a day at your local magistrates’ court could be the perfect way for you to find out such fascinating information. Hattie Silverman shares her experience. 

You might just find yourself being so captivated by the colourful cases at the heart of criminal law that, like me, you consider a career change.

However, before you start considering resignation, I’ll warn you that a failing, over-stretched criminal justice system is never far from the interesting cases that originally intrigue people.

Over the past few months, as part of my involvement in the Criminal Justice Clinic at Sussex University Law School, I have been fortunate to shadow expert criminal defence solicitors from Old Bailey Solicitors in Brighton and, thanks to HM Courts & Tribunal Service, also a range of hardworking people in the court system. This has culminated in many hours spent watching the inside workings of a magistrates’ court.

For someone like me, who had only ever experienced the formalities and traditional procedures of the Crown Court, the exposure to the magistrates’ court, where all cases start, has provided me with a vital insight into the reality of working in the criminal law.

It has also helped me reflect deeply on the growing injustices of the criminal justice system and the impressive number of failures that exist within it, none more surprising than when a person within the system has mental health issues. Government statistics suggest the number of people in the criminal courts who have mental health issues stands at around 1/3 but, on the ground, the position looks even worse. A solicitor I met while shadowing estimated the real number was nearly double that.

It is no secret that Mental Health Services, and the Criminal Justice System, are underfunded, overburdened and facing a recruitment crisis. However, have you ever wondered what happens when you combine one failing system with another? In my experience, the shocking truth is:

• It means a young cocaine addict at court, charged with drug driving and drug possession, rocking back and forth and visibly shaking from drug withdrawal, despite not having had a mental health assessment and being at risk of suffering a seizure.
• It means a vulnerable defendant staring blankly out of the window, while his partner simultaneously tends to their youngest child, explaining the number of service failings that led to them sitting in a bleak and broken court interview room.
• It means a person being charged with assault and criminal damage after they initially went to the police station to report themselves as a danger to others, but had a mental health crisis and smashed an officer’s phone in the ensuing chaos.

The Criminal Justice Joint Inspection and the Care Quality Commission proposed changes to the criminal justice system, such as having an in-house court service team and more mental health training for those involved in the court system in 2021. Despite academics affirming the need for such changes, failures continue to happen with no reform in sight, and vulnerable people are forced to deal with the long-term and life-changing consequences that come from having a criminal record.

So, why not spend a day shadowing at your local magistrates’ court? It may fascinate you in following a criminal law career, but it may also dissuade you. However, I would recommend it. It might, at least, make you reflect on some of the failings in the criminal justice system, the effect they have on ordinary people, and the resolutions that are desperately needed.

* The answer to these pressing questions, on the very particular facts of these cases, was ‘no!’ The driver accepted that she actually realised that this was more than royal icing and drove anyway, while the other defendant didn’t intend the damage, nor was he reckless, in law, as to his actions.

Blog by: Hattie Silverman, Criminal Justice Law Clinic

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