Carter Reforms

In an affluent society the only things to complain about are healthcare, education, taxation and crime. Sadly reduction in taxation is not compatible with an increase in spending in healthcare and education, which leaves crime as the obvious area to tackle; if crime were reduced then tax money spent on crime could be saved. The government has realised that reducing crime through increased policing and increasing the number of prisoners does not help reduce the tax bill, and reducing either of these is consider politically dangerous, so it must look for other areas of the the crime bill to reduce. This is where the Carter Reforms come in, they are the recommendations of Lord Carter for reform of the Legal Aid bill, politically they are a gift horse, but if we accept we should remember the fate of the Trojans.

Legal Aid is a gift horse because it is paid to lawyers, who everyone hates, to defend criminals, who are even more unpopular. So cutting the bill is a political winner, except this government being politicians saw even more of an opportunity. Cutting the bill could be done by paying less than they pay now, or at least holding the rates and let inflation take it's effect. This would mean the bill is still vulnerable to escalating crime, but that could be tackled elsewhere. However, the government saw that there is a way to use legal aid payments to control the outcome of criminal investigations.

The changes proposed completely change the role of defence solicitors. Currently there is an open market where the client can choose any lawyer they wish, the government then pay the bill. The new proposals turn the market on its head and make the government the customer, now the government will choose the solicitors to do the work and the client has no option but to select a government lawyer. Obliviously a client could pay to go with another criminal lawyer, but those lawyers are likely to be unfamiliar with the area of law and curiously most people accused of crimes are too poor to do this. This change provides the government with complete control of the justice system. government controlled police arrest and charge you, government lawyers prosecute you and government lawyers defend you. The government will suggest they will not be putting any pressure on lawyers in these cases, but that is impossible. Currently the reputation of a solicitor is vital in getting work, if you are known to be good, to get good results for your clients, you will have more clients and more business. Now the government will be able to do the exact opposite, only give contracts to those who don't get the best results for their clients, more guilty verdicts, more guilty pleas.

So these reforms not only offer the chance to save money, but they also allow the government to claim better results in fighting crime all without upsetting the voters. Voters think these reforms only affect criminals and lawyers, and nobody loves them. However when considering the effect of these reforms one should consider the recent changes in the criminal justice system and the restrictions on protest. It will now possible for a dictator to have complete control of the country, but of course that won't happen here.