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| Margaret Moran MP (c) Richard Lea Hair |
Yesterday, The
Guardian reported that
former Labour M.P. Margaret Moran, accused of falsely claiming
£80,000 in expenses, and her legal team would be making an
application for a “nolle” to the attorney general. This would
allow the case against her to be discontinued on exceptional grounds.
If
granted, Moran would not stand trial. Instead, a jury would assess
the merits of the case in her absence at a trial of issue. Jim
Sturman, her Q.C., stated:
"These proceedings are a continual threat to her life, not just to her liberty, and the experts agree that she is unfit to plead."
Three
pyschiatric experts have evaluated Moran and all come to the
conclusion that she is unfit to plead. Sturman himself talks of his
only meeting with Moran, in which she cried during the whole
conference, and refers to a previous hearing at Westminster
magistrates court, in which she sobbed uncontrollably in the dock.
I
understand that it is considered more beneficial for defendants to
attend their trial so that they can defend themselves more
adequately. However, with the team that she has on board, the public
display of her illness, and people's general disdain for M.P.'s
expenses abuse, I wondered whether her absence would harm her case.
If
not, do others with less (financial/political?) clout have access to
the same recourse?
Kelly
(2000), amongst others, has conducted research into links between
inequality and crime. The Ministry
of Justice report on the UK riots reveal the depth of the links
between social exclusion, inequality, poverty and transgressions of
the law.
- 35% of adult rioters were claiming out of work benefit, almost three times the national average (12%)
- 64% of child rioters lived in the country's most social excluded areas
- 66% of child rioters were classified as having special education needs, again three times the national average (22%)
Social
exclusion, inequality and poverty are also linked to mental
health problems. Therefore, if we accept that the majority of
those passing through our criminal justice system are from poorer
socio-economic backgrounds, then we also have to accept that many
will pass through the system with similar issues to those of Margaret
Moran.
Moran
is using a Q.C. Q.C.s cost a lot more than less qualified barristers.
By using a more prominent, and presumably, more knowledgeable
barrister, this will have enabled Moran to pursue this course of
action.
Furthermore,
Moran was examined by three psychiatrists over a period of two years.
Again, this will have cost a lot of money. All this will be quite
different to the legal (aid?) access that those living in poverty
will have recourse to.
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| Looted Sainsburys local, Chalk Farm (c) hughepaul |
Looking
back at Sturman's statement regarding his client, it is difficult to
find any reason why Moran should receive better treatment than the
children who have been criminalised as a result of their wrongdoings
during the summer riots. There is a large gulf between the alleged
crimes of Moran and child rioters.
Not
only will these children have had emotional needs, not dissimilar to
Moran's, but arguably this is a greater threat to their life, because
their criminalisation threatens their life chances; unemployment,
poorer physical health, further mental health problems, and an
earlier death.
Due
to her influence, Moran will be able to distance, and anonymise
herself, by her absence at her trial, yet children have lost
their right to anonymity in the UK criminal justice system. Those
in power want us to remember
who 'criminals' are, regardless of their age and the protection
that we should afford them.
I
am minded of Reiman's 'pyrrhic defeat theory'. This maintains that
the way in which the criminal justice system, and criminal justice
policy, works is to perpetuate the myth that 'criminal activities'
are solely associated 'with the dangerous acts of the poor' (Reiman,
1998).
In
other words, a burgeoning prison population, peopled by those from
poorer socio-economic backgrounds, is a loss leader for governments,
because it diverts the public's attention away from crimes committed
by the powerful.
This
case is just another example of what the face of crime looks like.
Very kind of you to say so. Follow-up post coming out later this evening, further demonstrating the unequal power balance in criminal justice systems. Enjoy what you have left of your weekend.
ReplyDeleteI am so disgusted that the ex-MP Margaret Moran was able to escape prison on Friday the 14th of December when a team of so-called experts [or softies more likely] decreed that Moran was too doo-lally to enter a plea. This is a sickening example of a feeble society where nobody is willing to accept responsibility for anything. When our political superiors lack the integrity to put their hands up and admit their own wrongdoing and have the courage to face the consequences, like the rest of us poor bastards, then this country is finished. No wonder, the yoof go looting, when they see the middle-class law-makers deteriorate into white-collar law-breakers. The trouble with the actress, Margaret Moron, is that having been a legislator [and by implication, a parliamentary law-maker], she knows how the system works, and is therefore ideally placed to work the system in her cowardly favour. She is one of many bourgeois villains who appear to be too ill to stand trial but who were in perfectly rude health to commit crime in the first place. Chirac in France and Mubarak in Egypt are but two recent examples of folk ‘doing a Petain’ and faking ill health in order to achieve leniency. There should be a re-trial. Otherwise British justice is a sick joke. As someone who broke the law many years ago, I had to take my punishment on the chin. It would be good if other high-ranking hypocrites accepted blame too and took responsibility for their actions, like the rest of us plebs. To thwart justice and cling onto their pampered lifestyle sends out a terrible signal to the rest of the society. I believe that the expression that springs to mind is: “one rule for them; one rule for the rest of us”. Well, I am fucking livid about you Margaret Moron.
ReplyDeleteSickened,
Gary Watton