Less ‘secrecy’ will improve public confidence in courts

The Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer has called for greater openness in the courts system in order to improve public confidence.

Speaking at the recent Media conference held at Reuters in London, Lord

Falconer said over the past few months the Government had been consulting on making family courts more transparent.

He said: “There is a feeling that the workings of, and the decisions made in family courts are too secretive. The argument runs that without increased openness there can be no confidence in the workings of the family court, and therefore no confidence in the process or the outcomes.”

Lord Falconer said the understanding and visibility of the process, and understanding and access to the decisions was essential if “we are to increase confidence and indeed prevent miscarriages of justice”.

Lord Falconer said he was concerned about the restriction of the reporting of terrorist trials for too long in some cases.

He said: “Given the interlinked nature of some of the recent terror trials, I recognise the importance of reporting restrictions for the interests of ensuring future fair trials.

“But the consequence is that the public know nothing, sometimes for years of the conviction of a terrorist for an outrage which has occurred a long time before. We need to see whether there is scope for more openness without prejudicing the fair trial, or security operations. The sooner the public know the better. Convictions following a fair trial are a major weapon to combat terrorism.”

Lord Falconer said he recognised the benefits of allowing cameras into court rooms, which he said would increase public understanding of judgements and improve knowledge of how the courts work.

“The test must be, in allowing television access to courts, will this add unnecessarily to their distress, and separately, will knowledge that the TV cameras are there make people less willing to give evidence? Open justice may lead to the removal of justice. Something no one wants to see.”

However, he called on the media for exercising greater sensitivity when reporting on coroner’s courts out of respect for family and relatives.

He said the Government’s draft Coroners Reform Bill proposes that the coroner should be able, in certain cases like child deaths and suicides, to impose restrictions on what can be reported, such as insisting on anonymity.