Our legal system; what's gone wrong!, Our MP challenges CPS Options

[On the edge]

Richard Benyon is challenging the CPS decision not to prosecute a local care home worker for a failure to care because they believe it wouldn't be in the public interest to do so! I have to say, our MP is right; who are these people to make such decisions.

There seems to be rather too many cases where public servants decide cases themselves rather than have the question tested in court; our age old right and the basis of our legal system.

How many times do we hear that Social Service Departments have taken serious decisions behind closed doors. Similarly, we now have the latest daft idea, restorative justice, where 'offenders' meet their victims to apologise and put things right (aw bless!).

It seems that today's public servants think 'going to Court' is a punishment itself. No, it isn't, it's a fundamental right. If you are charged with doing something you didn't think wax wrong, who would you rather have in judgement? For me, it certainly wouldn't be WBC or any other Government Agency.

[Simon Kirby]

Richard Benyon is challenging the CPS decision not to prosecute a local care home worker for a failure to care because they believe it wouldn't be in the public interest to do so! I have to say, our MP is right; who are these people to make such decisions.

There seems to be rather too many cases where public servants decide cases themselves rather than have the question tested in court; our age old right and the basis of our legal system.

How many times do we hear that Social Service Departments have taken serious decisions behind closed doors. Similarly, we now have the latest daft idea, restorative justice, where 'offenders' meet their victims to apologise and put things right (aw bless!).

It seems that today's public servants think 'going to Court' is a punishment itself. No, it isn't, it's a fundamental right. If you are charged with doing something you didn't think wax wrong, who would you rather have in judgement? For me, it certainly wouldn't be WBC or any other Government Agency.

My feeling is that our legal system has some good checks and balances, and one of those is that a public prosecution should always be in the public interest. It's not entirely straight forward so the best thing is to read the CPS Code for Crown Prosecutors. It's somewhat unsatisfactory, but the public interest test is not easily applied by a non-specialist on the basis of a few paragraphs of alleged evidence in the local paper, so it means at times that what is the right and proper decision in the circumstances isn't necessarily easy to understand, but then if the decision isn't easy to understand then justice is not obviously being seen to be done.