From the Courts

It is very interesting and informative to compare the views of other people writing in this column especially as there tends to be a recurrence of the same ideas, an agreement on the things that impress us, either favourably or disfavourably in the courts.

For instance, the way alcoholics are treated by the justice system or similar petty offenders who seem to get hit harder the lower down the socioeconomic scale they are seems to arouse the same reactions in those who are writing, while we approve of a magistrate who makes a sound, reasoned judgement overcoming factors which might otherwise bias the decision.

It could be that this is a reflection of our own particular bleeding heart liberal ethic, or bias if you like, but I prefer to think that it is a genuine comment on the courts.

By way of example, last week I say what I would call a "good" case with a fair result. It turned out that a young man on a fairly serious charge of driving with an excess alcohol level in his blood has a wife and two young children and wasn't earning very much a week so that a fine would cause hardship to the family. The Magistrate, after some deliberation, placed him on probation for 12 months instead, so that he would still get the punishment the law demanded, without his family having to bear the financial burden that the customary fine would bring.

It must be extremely difficult for a magistrate to maintain a sense of fairness living the life style they would tend to lead and seeing offenders from the same point of view all the time so I admire a man who does make a decision which involves some genuine consideration for the individuals involved. It would be very easy to become cynical seeing the same type of offender day after day and to treat cases solely by the book. A case such as this came up last week When a man was charged with stealing a packet of biscuits from a damaged carton he was unloading from a container. Despite the petty nature of the theft and the fact that it was the defendant's first offence and that he had a good work record, the Magistrate ignored counsel's plea for a discharge without conviction preferring to make an example of him as a warning to other pilferers who were destroying the economic system.

Les Knight