Hard Cases Make Bad Laws

Yesterday as you all read Steven Lawrence finally achieved some measure of justice with the conviction for murder of two of his killers. From what I have seen of the evidence and the trial it seems that the beyond reasonable doubt the right people have been jailed for this crime and two violent, racist thugs have been put behind bars where they belong.

But I'm not entirely happy.

In order to put these two on trial an ancient principle of natural justice was torn up by the former Home Secretary David Blunkett, that of double jeopardy, the principle that you cannot be tried twice for the same offense. This is a right that has been part of English common law for centuries and it even enshrined in article 50 of the European Convention on Human Rights (although conveniently a part of the convention our craven politicians didn't sign us up to whilst signing us up to all the other bullshit parts).

Double jeopardy defences are fundamentally important in protecting the individual against the machinery of the state; they stop the state bringing prosecution after prosecution until they get the "right" result - kind of like those EU referendums. Their removal by the previous Labour government weakens the individual and was wrong and its generally accepted that it was done primarily with the Lawrence case in mind.

Yes in the Lawrence case the police and CPS made a series of huge cock ups and maybe even were willfully negligent leading to the acquittal of the defendants. Many things went wrong and under double jeopardy they would have literally got away with murder; but hard cases make bad laws and unpalatable though it may be to have the likes of Norris wandering around as a free man* I would rather that than yet another erosion of the fundamental rights of the citizen by a politician trying to look "tough" and trying to patch up the cock ups of the police and Crown Prosecution Service.


* although I believe he was already in the nick on another offence

Salus populi suprema est lex

It's Latin for "The safety of the people is the greatest law", a quotation from Cicero and a principle of justice since Roman times.

I noticed this quotation on a blog I follow, Guido Fawkes' blog as it happens (link over there on the left in the blogroll) whereby the normally sane Guido completely loses it over the Milly Dowler murder and calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty, simultaneously piddling all over his "libertarian" credentials in the process.

Look it's clear to me that Levi Bellfield is a truly evil git with all the redeeming features of a rat on PCP and what he did was truly evil. However hard cases make bad law and our laws are based on meting out justice, not vengeance; if I may be allowed some more Latin¹ Dura lex sed lex

Much as our human sensibilities, outraged by what this individual has done, call out for his destruction it is some measure of our civilisation we no longer act on these impulses; that the judge in this case has imposed a whole of life tariff is to my mind sufficient much as my inner dragon would like to turn the breath weapon to "simmer" and slowly roast the fuck to death over a few days. We cannot, we must not ever allow the state to have the ability to kill any of its citizens for they cannot be trusted with that power. How many people died at the end of Albert Pierrepoint's rope whose convictions were subsequently found to be unsafe or which were clearly wrongly allowed to be executed to suit a politician who wanted to look "tough on crime"?

If we bring the death penalty back how many more Derek Bentleys will there be because the Home Secretary² doesn't want to be seen to be letting a nasty evil peedofil off because the Daily Mail will turn on him?



¹ All dragons are required to speak Latin. It's in the code of conduct right alongside to setting fire to estate agents and advertising creatives.

² Not the current one, obviously, as he is a wet as a ducks' underwear.

Police State, we has it.

These two stories appeared side by side on the front page of the Beebs new site at one point this afternoon...



... and I think that it says everything you need to know about ZaNuLabour's Britain.

We are now a police state. The state can and will ban you for stating a point of view and you can and will be tried by the Star Chamber and not before a jury of your peers.

This is how it starts people. No-one is going to kick up too much of stink about Abdul Al-Weirdybeard and his gang swivel-eyed gang of loons getting banned - despite the fact that as far as I can see from their website (yes I had a look) and what's been reported I can't see that they have incited hatred (well no more than the BNP do) or been shown that they have associated with terrorists - and if they have bring that information into open court so we can all see that they have done so and not just on the whim of some ex-postman expenses junkie who's trying to look "tough" with an election coming up. Ditto our alleged criminal friends up before a juryless court. Sure the are probably a bit handy with the shooters (but they love their mothers) but the excuse for not having a jury trail was that it would cost "too much" to protect the jury - about 86 million they reckoned. Fucking hell how many BILLIONS did we stump up to bail out my employer? How many millions do we pour into the cesspit that is Africa every year straight that ends up in General Mwomomomoba's back pocket?

Oh sure the cockwallets in government will all be "oh these are extremes, very rare occurrences, don't worry these powers will hardly ever get used." Yes, and at the risk of falling foul of Godwins' Law I'm sure when the Nazis started passing those laws just to sort out "a few anti-social troublemakers who we know none of you like" nobody kicked up too much of a fuss or ever thought that one day the Sturmabteilung would be kicking down their door for daring to say something not so complimentary about the beloved leader and being hauled off for a quick show trial followed by a bullet to the head.

We do not live in a "creeping police state" - we are in a de facto police state where you can be imprisoned for expressing a view following a trail with no jury.

This is just going to get worse and worse. And I can't see CallMeDave making any moves to change it soon.