The Daily Telegraph this week ran an article about people who have been charged with various drink driving offences who receive Section 10 dismissals, saying “thousands of people are escaping convictions for drink driving every year”, blaming these statistics on a “legal loophole”.
Unfortunately, this article lacks any true understanding of the legal reasoning behind the concept of Section 10 dismissals and why they exist.
A Section 10 dismissal means that the Court acknowledges that the offence was committed, however in the discretion of the Magistrate decides not to record a conviction because that particular case may have had extenuating circumstances attached to it.
The attitude of the Daily Telegraph seems to be that every person who drinks and drives should be convicted and punished. This concept, similar to mandatory sentencing, has been tried and failed as it does not take into the account that every matter that comes before the Court has with it a unique set of factual circumstances.
Take for example, a person who has been driving for 20 years without a single offence on their record, who is a positive contributor to their community, and an otherwise upstanding citizen. Let’s say they consume two drinks at a bar and believe they are under the threshold to drive, but following a breath test are found to be in the low-range category for drink driving. Imagine further that this person works in a job that requires them to hold a license, and should they lose their license, they will also lose their job. Should this person be so severely punished for what was at worst an error in judgement?
People are not perfect and from time-to-time make mistakes that without the option for discretion on the part of the court system could result in a punishment that is severely disproportionate to the offence they committed.
Our legal system is designed to allow people who are convicted with a criminal offence the opportunity to explain their actions to ensure that more serious offenders are dealt with more harshly than less serious offenders. Section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act allows the Court to exercise some discretion in circumstances where members of society who make mistakes deserve a second chance. It can hardly be described as a “legal loophole” which has with it connotations of inadequacy or cheating the system.
For the most part, serious offences are dealt with by the courts in a serious manner. Unfortunately, some journalists latch on to statistical anomalies that do not tell the whole story or outliers that are the inevitable by-product of an imperfect system when reporting on legal matters.
If you have been charged with an offence by police, contact Complete Legal to discuss your options.
