Clause 69 - Criminal Procedure Rules
Courts Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Mr David Kidney (Stafford, Labour)
It is a pleasure to serve on a Committee under your watchful eye, Mr. O'Brien, and your firm but fair manner of dealing with proceedings.
I should like to talk about two points about which I and other commentators have been concerned in the past. The first is about the trial of young persons charged with very serious offences. The second is whether there is a possibility of laying in children's proceedings when a criminal trial is taking place at the same time. Both points are relevant to the clause, which deals with a court's powers to make rules in criminal proceedings. They are also relevant to clauses 75 and 76, which deal with the similar power to make rules relating to family procedure rules.
My first concern is about prosecuting children for serious offences. People may recall from the trial of the killers of Jamie Bulger and the subsequent referral to the European Court of Human Rights the nature of proceedings in a Crown court for very young persons who are accused of serious offences. I am not suggesting that they are given an easy ride. According to the terms of our justice system, which assumes that people are innocent until proven guilty, people who appear in court should be spared
''avoidable intimidation, humiliation or distress.''
I take those words from the overriding principle contained in the Lord Chief Justice's practice direction of 16 February 2000, which was the result of the consideration of our Crown court procedures by the European Court of Human Rights.
Hon. Members may recall some of the directions that the Lord Chief Justice set out: where possible, the defendant should sit at the same level as the rest of the court; defendants should be free to sit with members of their family; proceedings should be explained to defendants as they go along; there should be frequent and regular breaks; robes and wigs should not be worn unless the defendant asks for them to be worn; restrictions should be imposed on the number of people attending a trial; and, although facilities for reporting the trial must be provided, consideration should be given to restricting the number of reporters present in the courtroom. Those directions were given in an attempt to ensure that there is a fair trial.
Concerns are often expressed that the great panoply of the Crown court venue would have difficulty fitting in with those directions. On many occasions, the youth court might be a more defendant-friendly venue for such trials. It might be more appropriate for the Crown court to agree to sit in the youth court.