‘Final insult’, screamed one of the newspapers over the decision by Lucy Letby not to attend her sentencing for murder. Now the prime minister himself has proposed that such offenders be dragged into court by prison officers using ‘reasonable force’. But why should Letby or any defendant have to be present for sentence? It is now much cheaper for them to watch the process on video. That also eliminates any possible escape attempt.
The reason we want them to be present is to provide an example of ritual judicial humiliation, so that we can read how they were ‘stonefaced’, ‘tearful’, ‘expressionless’ ‘emotional’ or, best still, that they ‘broke down when the sentence was pronounced’.
Ritual humiliation in society, and the judicial and extra-judicial system is nothing new. Over the centuries western civilization has used the scold’s bridle, the ducking stool, the stocks and pillory, public whippings and public executions as additional punishments, designed not to reform the criminal but to please the masses.
It is generally accepted that, with the exception of the death penalty, no single form of sentence is better than another in preventing recidivism. You may be terrified by the ‘clang of the prison gates’. I may be turned around by a period of supervision. He will welcome the opportunity to link up with his mates in prison where conditions may be better than at home and he can learn new trades not on the penal curriculum.
Dragging people into court will not help reform them in any way. It may in fact trigger paranoia, rage and fury, leading to more difficult-to-control anti-social behaviour. This, in turn, will mean more injuries to prison staff.
And what about cases where, despite the verdict, the defendant maintains their innocence? There are enough of them about, as the case of Andrew Malkinson shows. Should they be publicly shamed by being dragged to court to hear their sentence? And when their conviction is overturned, will compensation be added for this humiliation designed merely to appease the mob?
Rishi Sunak should think again.
James Morton is a writer and former criminal defence solicitor
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