Courts to be open 24 hours to crack down on rioters

12 comments

1. **From The Telegraph:**

   Courts will sit for 24 hours to fast-track sentencing under government plans to crack down on far-Right riots that swept Britain on Saturday.

   Ministers were locked in talks on Saturday night with senior members of the judiciary about bringing in emergency measures following clashes in major cities that left police injured.

   There were violent confrontations in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Belfast, Stoke and Hull in a second night of serious rioting that first began in Sunderland on Friday.

   Police officers were attacked and forced to draw their batons as they came under fire from bricks, bottles and flares.

   In Hull, four people were arrested as three officers were hurt after a group of people targeted a hotel which houses asylum seekers.

   Looting and arson attacks broke out in the city as the disorder intensified. Shop fronts were vandalised, with a Greggs, a Specsavers and Shoezone left smashed with windows while small fires could also be seen outside.

   Meanwhile, four men were arrested following disorder in Stoke-on-Trent.

   The worst of the confrontations appeared to take place in Liverpool where a police officer was knocked off his motorcycle and attacked by masked men as he fled down the road.

   As violence broke out the Prime Minister said the police had his “full support” to take “all action necessary to keep our streets safe”.

   Sir Keir Starmer, who made the remarks during crisis talks with ministers on Saturday, also labelled rioters who attack police officers as “extremists”.

   Meanwhile Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, vowed to give police “all the backing that they need” to take action against “criminal disorder and thuggery”.

   It followed scenes of destruction on Friday night in the wake of the knife attack which left three young girls dead and others injured in Southport last Monday.

   Officials at the Ministry of Justice are now understood to be in discussions with the judiciary, as well as police chiefs and the Crown Prosecution Service, about magistrates’ courts staying open all night to cope with an expected surge in the number of people in custody for riot-related offences.

   This would involve triggering the Additional Courts Protocol, which is subject to the agreement and direction of the judiciary.

   Any request for additional court slots or sessions, including extended hours, overnight or weekend courts, must now be made with the agreement of the relevant Chief Officer of Police and Chief Crown Prosecutor.

   The protocol was put in place following the 2011 London riots which saw widespread looting and arson attacks across the capital, which later spread to other cities in England.

   At the time, courts were asked to sit for 24 hours to process those in custody for disorder-related offences and this was subsequently praised as one of the most effective ways – along with overwhelming police officers on the streets – of bringing the riots under control.

   The then director of public prosecutions, Sir Keir, made a morale-boosting visit to Highbury magistrates’court, in north London, at about 4am during a night sitting, and later praised the efficient response to the disorder.

   Chris Philp, a Tory MP and former police minister, said: “What worked during the London riots in 2011 was overwhelming numbers of police officers in the right place and immediate justice.

   “Magistrates’ courts sat overnight so that justice was dispensed straight away – then it becomes clear that justice is being done”.

   **(1/3)**

2. Hang on weren’t they letting prisoners out early claiming jails were overcrowded?

3. Suspended sentences…I don’t think so, you’ve just taken on the state. The states going to send a pretty clear message and exact a pretty hefty price.

   Remanded to prison. Case heard in 18-24 months, if you’re lucky.

   …….Fuck around and find out.

   Good luck finding a white Christian antiwoke civil rights lawyer wanting to represent you.

   Downvote all you like.

   But that’s the reality, as they say….

   If you can’t do the time, don’t be a knuckle dragging racist fuckwit.

4. Wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of these are suspended sentences and fines, except for those where assault and criminal damage can be traced.

5. Starmer has been here before
   https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jul/03/riot-prosecutions-sentences-keir-starmer

6. What about protecting people from getting stabbed? No? Oh , ok , just checking.

7. The Conservatives are to blame for under-policing, these riots could have been handled swiftly had enough officers been employed across the country, it’s just something you don’t compromise on

8. So Starmer could be seen as being in a lose-lose situation right now.

   Crack down too hard on the “far-right” rioters. The natives see hypocrisy from other rioting groups of the past and confirming the “two-tier policing” idea floating around, thus possibly bolstering the rioters’ numbers.

   Go to soft. It could be seen as a tacit endorsement, which is definitely not true.

   Poor guy can’t win

9. Why couldn’t they have done this to deal with the massive backlog? Why is it just rioters that need/get speedy trials?

10. > Courts will sit for 24 hours to fast-track sentencing under government plans to crack down on far-Right riots that swept Britain on Saturday.
    >
    > Ministers were locked in talks on Saturday night with senior members of the judiciary about bringing in emergency measures following clashes in major cities that left police injured.

    From time to time, I dread at reading all these crime and punishment stories. They felt as if these are previews of what’s to come. It’s quite dreadful to read these unhappy news. Why not have special or elite police force who are tough, elite and by the book on law giving on the streets? Why not have units who are judges, jury and enforcers at the same time? They go to site, see the crime, enforce justice with impromptu verdict and have a resolution there and then. Wouldn’t this remove all the heat and blockage of delivering justice, much better than 24 hours court? At least one doesn’t not need to dread reading these news.

11. The Muslims walking around with knives should consider the sentence for possession of a bladed article in public.

    Max sentence is 4 years if aggravating factors are involved….

12. If he wants to try and fulfil the two tier policing prophecy this is how.