"western Society and Crime"

There are hundreds and thousands of people in Prisons in the United States, and more Prisons continue to be built.  The Prisons in England are overcrowded there are so many prisoners in the English Prisons the Government has decided to release what they describe as the least dangerous prisoners, but can any Western society exist without crime,  no and I will tell you why.  

There are many kinds of criminals there are the legalised criminals and there are criminals who commit illegal crimes.  In every strata of this society there are crimes committed every day even by those who profess to be the cream of society because some of the richest people in the world have gained their wealth on legal crimes. 

Let’s examine the Criminal Justice System, who they are and who heads the system and the amount of money circulating within that system, and who is the main beneficiary.   Let’s start with the ordinary man in the street who commits a serious crime or a misdemeanour.  Firstly they are arrested by the Police taken into a form of transport driven by the Police, and on reaching the Police Station they are handed over to the Desk Sergeant to be booked in and from there taken to the cells. 

All these Officers are paid very well, so far we do not know whether the man who was arrested was guilty of the crime, all we know up to this point is that a lot of money has been earned by the arresting officer, the driver of the transport, the Police who take their particulars and the Police who lock him into the cell, and the maintenance of the Police Station.  If one calculates the amount of money which is earned up to this point, one will see the value of their arrest to the Police Force. 

The following day the arrested  person will appear in a Magistrate Court depending on the crime which is assumed to be committed, he or she will appear before three Lay Magistrates, in the case of a misdemeanour and in the case of a serious crime before the Stipendiary Magistrate.  Within the Court there will be many Police keeping guard or waiting for their cases to be tried, there is the Clerk of the Court, Stenographers and other attendees all paid handsomely by the state.  

The Prisoner will have the charges read out to him or her to make his plea guilty or not guilty.  In the Magistrates Court although a guilty plea can sometimes be accepted the prisoners will be placed on remand to the Crown Court, sometimes because the Magistrate feels the sentence should be more then they have the power to give, and this man will be placed on bail to wait for the Crown Court. 

Others who plead not guilty can ask to be tried by the Magistrates Court or the Crown Court but most are remanded to the Crown Court. 

 In the case of bail refusal, this person would be detained and placed in Prison while they are awaiting trial.  They are looked after by the Prison Officers, where they are fed until their trial date is due.  On that day they are entitled to a solicitor and because it is a Crown Court they must have a Barrister, there again the Court will be crowded with the Police, the Judge and two solicitors and two barristers.  All these people are people who are supposed to be the pillar of society, and they demand huge salaries.

 A case may be tried that day on the other hand it may be scheduled for another day.  The same people who were in the Court on the first day will be at the Court again being paid.  All these people earning money while this person waits to face their destiny.  If this person is found not guilty of the crimes he is supposed to have committed so be it. 

Let’s stop to think the amount of money spent up to this point and who is earning these monies not the ordinary man in the street, but the Judges, the Barristers, Solicitors, the Police, and the Prison Officers who looked after him while he was in Prison.  

Who cares that so many people have earned so much money by the small actions of an innocent man. 

Now the society is governed and controlled by the Law, a Law we all should obey but this Law is designed in such a way that those who uphold it are so powerful that in some cases they can demand what they want.  The solicitors act on behalf of his clients on one hand but also acts on behalf of society, which he governs and controls. 

So far we have dealt with the person who is not guilty, now let’s deal with the man who is found guilty at the Crown Court. 

Depending on the seriousness of the crime, he may either be sentenced in which case he will be placed in the hands of a Probation Officer for the length of time he has been bound over.   He may receive a differing sentence which means if he was to commit another felony while being bound over he would go to Prison. 

The man who has been sentenced to Prison will be sent to Prison for months or years but while he is in Prison he has to be guarded fed and be cared for by Prison Officers. 

There are many thousands of Prison Officers in all Prisons in the UK, thousands of Police holding all different positions from the common Bobby on the street to the Superintendent and the Commissioner of Police, all extremely well paid. 

Prisoners who are discharged on Parole are given a Parole Officer, and sometimes a Social Worker, all these people are paid handsome salaries. 

I have associated with the Criminal Justice System as a voluntary worker in London, Kent, the Midlands and North Wales where I now live.  Through my activates over the years I have always been in conflict with the Police and their racist activities against black people.  I must hasten to say I have been able to avoid much of their racist activities one could say because of the pigment of my light skin and I have always been able to handle myself in what I presume to be the right and proper manner. 

I have been able to walk into many Police Stations and ask to be let into the cells to speak to any black person who was arrested.  My aims and objectives were to find out what they were arrested for and who represented them.  I led the struggle for the defence of black people and by doing so opened the way for the black Barristers. 

There were hundreds of black people going through the Courts yet there were Barristers sitting in Lincolns Inn, Clifford’s Inn, and the Inner Temple London without work.  The Duty solicitor who is the first to see his black client would either undertake to work for him or her, or in some cases hand his case over to another white solicitor.  This white solicitor would then appoint a white Council, the black person in Court was like a lamb being led to the slaughter, no one would be in Court of his own kind. 

It is said a trial should be conducted by his peers.  One could not say any of these black offenders were tried by their peers, neither in colour, class, or understanding of the suffering and equality the black man faces.

 In my job working for the Commission for Racial Equality in various capacities, I realised it was my duty to attend the Courts to see how a black offender was treated, in some cases the racist remarks from the Judge left no doubt that the black individual had no chance.  He was always looked upon as a foreigner and his country of origin was mentioned.

 Something had to be done I knew of the black Barristers who were very good they were without work in London.   I would go to a solicitor and asked a white solicitor to appoint a black barrister.  The excuse for not doing so was far reaching.  Either the Judge would not like a black barrister or they do not know of any black barristers.  I knew that the accused person was in a position to choose what Barrister they wanted to defend them, so I would go to the Police Station or the Magistrates Court and ask the accused to give me a letter authorising him to choose a Barrister of his choice, this would be a black Barrister in all cases. 

This then became a struggle between myself and the solicitors but I was pleased to say many solicitors especially Jewish were delighted when they realised these black solicitors were high class defence lawyers. 

I can name a lot of the Solicitors who I have worked with but above all when I discovered there were a few black solicitors mostly from Sri Lanka, we began to work closely together in the interest of black people.  I was able to convince the black Barristers it would be in their interest to work with me in an un-official Legal Advice Centre a place where they would come twice a week to give advice to poor unfortunate people, some who were completely lost within the system. 

In the Wolverhampton Crown Court, in 1 year we fought 24 cases, before I was involved black people were going to Prison on trumped up charges namely drugs and other misdemeanours, this was completely unjust and had to be rectified. 

I worked in London, Coventry, and Wolverhampton but became involved with people from Leicester, Northampton, and areas in the Midlands.  In one period of around 6 months I had 26 cases in the Wolverhampton Crown Court, out of the 26 22 won their cases, previously to this everyone would have gone to Prison.  The same thing happened in Telford and Wellington the Police saw the black people as easy game and racism was rife, it seems as if it was a joke to them to go nigger baiting. 

There is a case where there was a big Wedding and in the middle of the reception Police raided that Wedding and arrested the Groom the Bride and quite a few other people, about 20 people, many trumped up charges were laid against them.  The Police had a shock when Black Barristers appeared at Wellington Crown Court by the dozens.  The fact that only 1 individual was found guilty and the rest had no case to answer proved beyond doubt just what the Police were up to.

 I have no regrets about what I did, there are Barristers still in London who still appreciate the stand I took against racism within the Legal Justice System.  I believe the Police knew me everywhere throughout the Midlands, even in Telford I was threatened by the Police on many occasions but I had no fear, I had the unity of the Barristers and in some cases the Solicitors to protect me I knew what I was doing was just.  This gave me more encouragement to continue.

 There was a case at Dudley Crown Court where a white solicitor was representing a Client of mine, the client was told because of his record he would be lucky if he was given less than 10 years.  When I heard that, I  immediately advised my client to change solicitors, this he did, but the white Solicitor would not take no for an answer, in Court there were two separate solicitors and two Barristers, this caused some confusion, when the Judge asked my client which solicitors he wanted to represent him, when the client chose the black solicitor or black barrister the Judge was quite annoyed, and withdrew the legal aid, leaving my client without any defence, at the same time I was accused in Court of being a tout and threatened by the Judge to be arrested for contempt of Court. 

I left the Court to my office where I wrote a letter to the Lord Chancellor the Legal Aid Professional purpose body complaining about the racism practised by the Judge, needless to say I did not receive a reply, but my clients legal aid was reinstated, in the final analysis when the case was finally tried it was submitted by the black solicitor that the client had no case to answer, this was accepted by another Judge. 

 Imagine what would have happened if the case had tried on the first day, the client would be sent down to Prison because the question of guilt was already assured he was black, therefore he must be guilty.  

It is said if you cannot beat them join them in my case it was the opposite they could not beat me, so I was surprised when I was asked by the Wolverhampton Police if I would not mind if a Community Police joined me, in order to help the community at large, knowing I have nothing to be afraid of I accepted the Officer. 

Before long I was like a celebrity everything which went wrong with black people and the Police I was called in.  I remember on one occasion the situation was so desperate when I was called by the Police who wanted to enter a building,  the Police were genuinely afraid for my security.  They were surprised when I entered the building and took one Policeman with me, to discuss a problem, where a solution was found.  I was further asked to become a Lecturer at the Wednesfield Police Station, Tel ford to Police recruits, the topic of the lectures The Police Attitude and How It Effects Black People, I am glad to say because of the year I spent lecturing to the Police, the hostility I felt between the black people and the Police changed for the better. 

I was further asked to sit on the L.R.C. Panel at Feather stone Prison near Wolverhampton where I interviewed prisoners for Parole.