The Secret Barrister lays out his objections to the Ministry of Justice's proposals. Most are those of an insider, things that a lay person would not have thought of, but I was gratified to see that he also echoes my first reaction to them:
We already see with regularity fully-explained sentencing remarks divorced from their context, misquoted or distorted by lazy reporters and special interest groups, and judges unfairly monstered as a consequence. The ability of anyone so inclined – from bad-faith editor to Twitter troll – to clip decontextualised video footage and circulate it virally to make a dishonest point about ‘soft sentencing’ or ‘loony judges’ is a modern reality.
It is the misuse of clips from parliamentary debate which reinforced my misgivings on this, but the SB makes a more subtle point and it is worth reading the whole piece when you have time to do so.
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