I mentioned here Blair's rhetorical nonsense of "rebalancing the criminal justice system". In his speech at Meridian Community Centre in Watford in September 2005 he said this.
"In turn however I believe this only happens if the criminal justice system and its culture also changes. And here is where I want to say something, and I think people may find it difficult but I believe is fundamental to trying to tackle this, the criminal justice system that we have in this country still asks first and foremost, how do we protect the accused from potential transgressions of the state or the police? That is the attitude that the criminal justice system has at its heart, is really that. And I think the first question should be: how do we protect the majority from the dangerous and irresponsible minority? In other words, I put that question round the other way, and a criminal justice system that is not doing the latter, in other words protecting the majority and protecting their right to have respect from other people when they are showing that respect towards them is a criminal justice system that isn't in fact just, and that is the problem that we have."
I recalled this when I read Labour Peer Helena Kennedy's James Cameron Lecture. You can download a transcript here (pdf) or better still listen to an mp3 (19mb) here
"The rhetoric about rebalancing the system has been the common strand in government policy with the criminal process disingenuously described as a contest between the citizen-victim and the criminal. The reality of the powerplay is disguised because what is actually taking place is the rebalancing of the power towards the state. However in a culture where we are all increasingly encouraged to think of ourselves as victims or potential victims of criminals or terrorists, we easily forget that the state is capable of victimising us far more effectively than any criminal."
As an aside, I'm surprised the BBC with its many interactive T.V. channels manage to show hours of live snooker but seem unable to give the viewers a live feed from Helena Kennedy's lecture!
Comments