The Secret Barrister
by Secret Barrister · first published 2018
81% recommend19% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Readable, anecdote-driven account of how underfunding and cuts have strained criminal justice in England and Wales; eye-opening for non-lawyers, such as tech people, who rarely deal with the courts.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
'An anonymous barrister writes a powerfully honest, provocative and moving first-hand account of life in the legal system and how it's failing us all "I'm a barrister, a job which requires the skills of a social worker, relationship counsellor, arm-twister, hostage negotiator, named driver, bus fare-provider, accountant, suicide watchman, coffee-supplier, surrogate parent and, on one memorable occasion, whatever the official term is for someone tasked with breaking the news to a prisoner that his girlfriend has been diagnosed with gonorrhoea." Welcome to the world of the Secret Barrister. Thes
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…system in the UK is not perfect either. There was a really good book released 2018 about how the legal system is broken here, if you are interested, it's a really good read: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Barrister-Stories-Law-Broken... Onto the topic of the extradition bill though, it specifically excludes extraditing politial dissidents, so it would not streamline the process. What I hear some people say that…
on “Why so many Chinese students can’t understand the Hong Kong protests” ↗…the problem. The means testing leaves many people facing no choice but to plead guilty or risk bankruptcy. This book is a chilling insight into the state of criminal justice: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Barrister-Stories-Law-Broken...
on “Convicted Post Office workers have names cleared” ↗I wish that were the only cause of miscarriages of justice in the UK... The whole British justice system is now beyond farcical. A quick read of The Secret Barrister [1] will leave one despairing for the state of the country. [1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Barrister-Stories-Law-Broken...
on “British Post Office Scandal” ↗The UK's budget for legal aid has been slashed dramatically in recent years under the Conservative government under the guise of austerity. This is well documented in the (very readable) book "The Secret Barrister". https://thesecretbarrister.com/ The author claims that the cuts are not even cost-effective, often leading to more spending by government to deal with the consequences.
on “I spent 22 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit” ↗I can strongly recommend "A Bit of a Stretch" - I read it after reading "The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken" which is pretty terrifying.
on “In Britain, even jails have a class system” ↗There have been significant cutbacks in the criminal justice system in England and Wales over the last decade or so - ironically by the party of "law and order". I can strongly recommend the book by the Secret Barrister: https://thesecretbarrister.com/
on “Assange Hearing Day 2” ↗The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis An entertaining read about just how fragile and naive western financial systems can be. Stories of the Law and How It's Broken - The Secret Barrister Gives a (mostly anecdotal) insight about how broken the English legal system is. I had to pause several times while reading because it conflicted so much with my world view.
on “Ask HN: Which book helped you understand the world?” ↗"The Secret Barrister" is an incredible read on the failings of the judicial system in the UK. I'm sure most of it applies to the US as well. One of the key takeaways was that the Police will start building a case against…
on “I spent 22 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit” ↗It's not necessarily about wrongful convictions, though they are included, but I'd recommend reading a book called 'The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken'[1] if you were interested in some of the issues in the criminal justice system in the UK. Things have got so bad recently that criminal justice practitioners have…
on “I spent 22 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit” ↗…law. It’ll tell you a plethora of reasons why people fail to turn up for court. Often as a result of an overstretched and massively underfunded CPS. Well worth a read - https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/The-Secret-Barrister/The-Secr...
on “Algorithm Helps New York Decide Who Goes Free Before Trial” ↗…defendant from the dock" and you're good to go. If you get imprisoned, and THEN are found innocent later on, maybe, say, 30 years later (as has happened!) expect to get....nothing. I really recommend "The Secret Barrister" both as a book and a blog. Nobody stands up for funding criminal justice properly -- because what politician wants to support the rights of the accused? -- but it's badly breaking. https://thesecretbarrister.com/2016/02/02/mr-gove-must-now-h...
on “Zoom executive charged with disrupting meetings commemorating Tiananmen Square” ↗…"rule of law" - as a pragmatist - as opposed to the "Rule of Law" (capitalised) as a principle. There's plenty of books on how the law fails to live up to its promise. To pick one at random see The Secret Barrister: Why the Law is Broken [1] (which is an amazing read!) However, that is to miss a central philosophical principle, which I would say is something like this: The Rule of Law is that faith we put in the…
on “The Myth of the Rule of Law (1995)” ↗Sad but true. Anyone wanting to learn more about how dysfunctional the UK's justice system is after years of underfunding should read Secret Barrister[1]. For comfortable technology folks who seldom brush with the law it's eye-opening stuff. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Barrister
on “London Underground is testing real-time AI surveillance tools to spot crime” ↗…forced. They way the ITV documentary framed it he spotted the trap, so they terminated his contract. > can the court system afford the huge retrial No. Truth is, it's in ruins. Have you ever read The Secret Barrister's "How The Law Is Broken"? Very good imho. I'm betting on a surprise Royal pardon, In fact I'm holding my popcorn for King Charlie pulling some outrageous stuff on his last legs, god blessim.
on “Adam Crozier and Alan Bates to Give Evidence at Post Office Horizon Inquiry” ↗…the criminal justice system tends to fail to meet its stated ideals. Disclosure is often served late or improperly on run-of-the-mill cases from what I’ve heard and read. There’s a great book called the Secret Barrister that goes into some detail about the UK’s (or England and Wales more specifically) criminal justice system from quite a critical lens.
on “I asked police to send me their public surveillance footage of my car” ↗