Riots: Conservative MP warns of ‘rushed justice’

James Clappison’s comments follow disclosure of Scotland Yard’s decision at height of riots to deny bail to all those charged People arrested on riot-related offences could face “rushed justice” because of the pressure on police and the courts after the UK riots, the Conservative MP and senior member of the Commons home affairs committee James Clappison has warned. His comments follow the disclosure that Scotland Yard adopted a policy of remanding in custody everyone arrested in relation to the riots, regardless of the severity of the charges they face or their criminal record, and comes as a Guardian poll reveals there is public support for the tough stance taken by the courts. The Metropolitan police said the policy was necessary to prevent further public disorder as violence spread through the capital. But the document also acknowledged that the force was so stretched at the height of the riots that it was “impractical” to bail people while they conducted “protracted” investigations, suggesting that investigating officers use special rules to fast-track cases to the courts with less evidence than is normally required. Clappison said: “There has to be firm, deterrent sentencing but rushed justice will be bad justice particularly when you’re trying to sort the professional repeat offenders and organisations from the weak followers.” Referring to the report of the leaked document, he said: “The situation is tough for the police, but we can’t have short cuts to justice. In every case we have to have normal high standards of justice for determining guilt and innocence and the right sentence.” The Met said that though it had advocated remanding people in custody it did not amount to a policy of not issuing cautions or denying people bail without reasonable cause. It said that of the 1,881 arrests, 1,063 resulted in charges. Some 623 were bailed to return pending further inquiries, 17 cautioned and 125 released with no other action. Overall some 62% of people arrested on riot-related offences were remanded in custody compared with 10% in comparable cases at other times, government figures show. The Guardian/ICM poll found that about 70% of respondents thought people convicted of riot-related offences should get a tougher than normal sentence, compared with 25% who opposed the idea and 5% who didn’t know. • ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,004 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 19-21 August 2011. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council. UK riots Conservatives Police Crime UK criminal justice Metropolitan police London Polly Curtis Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 23, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.