Clause 36 - Trials on indictment without a jury
Criminal Justice Bill
2:30 pm
Ms Vera Baird (Redcar, Labour)
It is nothing but to the credit of the Judicial Studies Board that it has at last started to take such issues on board. The issue of domestic violence has been at the forefront of gender issues, to the disadvantage of the issue of rape. The quotations to which I referred are quite recent. I have asked a raft of questions about the education that judges receive in order to try rape cases. Although the Lord Chancellor replies that only the most sympathetic are able to do try such cases, he cannot point to any criteria. Furthermore, High Court judges do not have any compulsory training at all. The Judicial Studies Board does not apply to High Court judges—they can opt for it—but by and large they go on to the Court of Appeal and set the precedents that guide those beneath them. Such a system is next to useless, as it educates those at the bottom but not those whose findings they have to follow.
I could go on for hours on the iniquities of the judiciary, but it is not only I who say that. It is a real complaint and a real danger. I urge the Minister to think again.