|
The Times, 27 September 1980,
reported on Talking Law, a new
series on BBC Radio Four featuring
some eminent English judges: Lord
Denning, Master of the Rolls, Lord
Justice Lawton, Lord Justice
Templeman, Lord Justice Shaw, Mr.
Justice Drake, Mr. Justice Pain
and Mr. Justice Kerr (chairman of
the Law Commission). In the first
programme, on sentencing (which,
raised policy considerations on
sentencing relevant to the issue
of prison conditions in Ghana),
"Lord Justice Lawton, asked,
whether he thought he had ever
given a wrong sentence, replies:
'It is very conceited of me to say
so, but the answer is no.' He says
that judges ought to take into
account the fact that prisons are
overcrowded when sentencing: 'If
there is no room in any of the
establishments there is not very
much point in passing a (prison)
sentence. . . ’ Mr. Justice Drake
disagrees, believing that the
overcrowding in prisons is not
something that judges ought to
have to take into account. 'If the
criminal is not punished in an
appropriate way, the public will
revolt at the sentence given,' he
says. Mr. Justice Pain expresses
the view that the Home Secretary's
request to the judges to impose
shorter sentencing was not
proper.” |
