Book Reviews : ADRIAN JAMES AND WILL HAY, Court Welfare in Action. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993, 224 pp
| DOI | 10.1177/096466399500400213 |
| Author | Mervyn Murch |
| Published date | 01 June 1995 |
| Date | 01 June 1995 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
286
entitled ’Insiders and Outsiders’, the author depicts three overlapping groups: first the
judges occupying the epicentre of the court, structurally elevated but often with a number
of informal ’backstage’ relationships; the second made up of the small but relatively stable
group of court staff; and the third composed of police officers, solicitors and counsel who
come
in and out of the court to dispatch cases. A fourth ’public’ group is a conglomerate of
jurors, the occasional spectator, defendants on bail, defence and prosecution witnesses
and their friends and supporters. This somewhat anonymous crowd mills about the public
spaces of the court, has no great knowledge of its language customs and topography and is
treated by the insiders as mostly faceless, unreliable and ephemeral. Rock argues that these
interacting groups are not only social and symbolic but frame the administrative action of
the court and determine the crucial dimensions of space and time the implications of
which are well explored (Chapters 6 and 7).
As with all pioneering studies, a number of lids have been raised from pots containing
murky brews which call for further study. Particularly important are the processes
contributing to delays in bringing cases to trial, the complexities and overloading of court
listing and the consequences and true cost of expensive waiting time. These longstanding
and deep rooted problems affect the whole court culture, being applicable to the civil as
well as criminal jurisdictions, and a number of vested interests are involved.
It was not the author’s intention to argue for policy changes - save perhaps for the
development of witness victim support schemes where the study has already been
influential. Even so, to those who have ears to hear there are a number of implicit
messages, most obviously the need for better court management of case timetables and
scheduling and, perhaps, also the need to consider strategies of diverting cases away from
the court...
To continue reading
Request your trial