"I think I am right in saying that a lay magistrate is required to sit 15 days a year. Very often, magistrates sit for a day at a time; they may do a day every other week. The scenario that the Government are presenting expects a lay magistrate to sit …..." Karl Turner - View Speech
"May I begin by welcoming the Justice Secretary to his place, and thank him for his engagement with me over recent weeks? More particularly, may I thank him for appointing Holly Lynch, the former Member of Parliament for Halifax, who apparently—goodness knows why—is still a big fan of me, despite …..." Karl Turner - View Speech
"I agree completely, and the hon. Gentleman makes the point very strongly indeed.
Clause 6 is on magistrates’ sentencing powers. I cannot support the idea of magistrates having powers to give sentences of between 18 and 24 months without a credible plan to address the dire, desperate need to recruit …..." Karl Turner - View Speech
"The right hon. and learned Gentleman makes a very good point—of course it will. When a judge is required to give reasons, counsel for the by-then appellant is poring over the judge’s statement, looking at every single line. Clever people such as the very eminent King’s counsel, the right hon. …..." Karl Turner - View Speech
"I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. She is absolutely right, of course. In my experience, offenders who appear in incredibly serious cases of violence in domestic scenarios have often never had previous convictions.
Let us think about the fairness of this scenario. Defendant A, who has never been convicted …..." Karl Turner - View Speech
"Well, I am not going to get into the whys and wherefores of this particular juncture of the debate.
There is an easy fix for the scenario that I have described. My amendment 47 states that where a defendant has no previous convictions and the court decides that the case …..." Karl Turner - View Speech
"I am hearing comments from a sedentary position. I have an awful lot of time for my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), I truly have—she is a mate of mine, as it happens—but there is a benefit to a jury trial.
"I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the intervention. I will be honest: I did not know about the report, but I am keen to have a look...." Karl Turner - View Speech
"Order. I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to speak in the debate. As there is a lot of interest and lots of people want to speak, I am going to impose an informal time limit of four minutes. I call Jim Shannon...." Karl Turner - View Speech