Let us record what happens in our courts – comment call
UPDATE: You can vote to repeal the ban on recording court proceedings here (Thanks to Alistair Kelman in the comments)
Heather Brooke is calling for a campaign to allow recording in UK courts. I agree. In the comments below, let’s talk strategy.
Meanwhile, here’s some of the background from Brooke’s related blog post:
How:
“The simple answer is to allow tape recorders for all: no party is disadvantaged and an ‘official’ recording is there for checking. This is how it works in other countries. But this is to ignore the root objection of the courts: that they are losing control of how court proceedings are presented to the public.”
Why:
“You might like to know whether the builder you’re going to give your keys to has any convictions for theft or if the company you’re about to do business with has a report for fraud. Tough. This information is not a click of a button away. Instead you’ll have to know the details of the case before you can call up any records – even though it’s the existence of cases that you’re trying to find in the first place. It’s Catch-22. If you do know the details of the case you’re then forced to undergo a tortuous and tedious process which involves battling a raft of petty officials across a number of court offices all for the simple purpose of accessing information that is supposedly public.”
And what:
“There are three main things that would make the courts useful to the general public:
- knowing by name who is using them (the court list);
- why (the particulars of claim);
- the result (the verdict, sentence or settlement).
“Yet trying to get any, let alone all, of these is fraught with difficulty.”
So: strategy. To kick things off, I’ll give you 3 starters:
- the much-mocked Your Freedom website inviting suggestions for laws to get rid of (how seriously is this being taken in government?)
- the Number 10 petitions site (likewise)
- Contact your MP.
Come up with some better ideas than that, and we’re somewhere.
Meanwhile, to spread awareness of this, why not tweet about this with the hashtag #opencourts (UPDATE: Also #courtrecord thanks to @JackofKent)
what about writing to both the AG and the Lord Chief Justice?
Posted July 28, 2010, 1:17 pmThanks – contact details for the Attorney General’s office at http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk/Pages/ContactUs.aspx
Now, can someone else find an address to write to the Lord Chief Justice at?
And perhaps we should identify what we are asking for and why. Heather’s blog post pretty much covers it…
Posted July 28, 2010, 1:28 pmOK, I was just trying to make it easy for someone to contribute. The Lord Chief Justice’s address is:
Posted July 28, 2010, 1:41 pmRoyal Courts of Justice
Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
How about a page in FB… it could prove effective to network around and gather inputs..
Posted July 28, 2010, 1:47 pmIf you do it, I’ll join it.
Posted July 28, 2010, 1:49 pmyeah, I couldn’t find an easier address than that, either.
Posted July 28, 2010, 1:57 pmI have just put up a request at the Government Web site “Your Freedom” calling for the abolition of Section 9 of the Contempt of Court Act.
http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/repealing-unnecessary-laws/abolish-the-ban-on-recording-court-proceedings. Please join and comment to it
AK
Posted July 28, 2010, 2:34 pmThere might be certain subversive forces who possess cameras that want to make taking snaps of plod legal again by mass photographing or videoing a members of the police in a heinous protest?
Then upon that more feasible victory they could just ride the wave of enthusiasm to something like allowing recordings in court which are obviously more difficult to accomplish and pivotal to journalism and the laws surround it. Bit Gandhi this non-violent stuff, but then again if some of these hypothetical protestors have their flash enabled I’m sure the virtuous constabularies will try to work the big scary bright light out to be a terrorist ‘assault’! A jolly good thing they can too as I’d not feel safe otherwise!!
-Pete @ dirtygarnet.com
Posted July 28, 2010, 2:49 pmThanks Alistair – very welcome and being retweeted around very well.
Posted July 28, 2010, 3:39 pmGood to see this being debated – I can’t think of any ideas beyond what others have come up with (although I will be blogging about it myself later) but I’ve voted for Alistair’s request as a start!
Posted July 28, 2010, 3:47 pmThere is a connected issue – as a member of the public you may find that you are not allowed to take a laptop or netbook into the courtroom. I first ran into this extraordinary state of affairs last April when a group of Cambridge cryptography graduates wished to view the Alan Jobs ATM civil proceedings against HBOS. The security officers at the court were not allowing members of the public to go into any courts with their computers ‘for security reasons’. This was after a policy decision from the Court Service – which has never been publicised.
Posted July 28, 2010, 4:01 pmIs that policy decision recorded anywhere?
Posted July 28, 2010, 4:47 pmNot to my knowledge. This happened in Nottingham County Court in April 2009. Anyone wanting to come in with a laptop/netbook had to leave it with “Security’. The case I attended was http://www.alikelman.com/jobhbos.pdf
Posted July 28, 2010, 5:12 pmabout writing to both the AG and the Lord Chief Justice?
Posted July 30, 2010, 10:27 am