‘Good Character’ Means Nothing Anymore

It used to be that if you were up in front of the beak or giving witness, that both the prosecution or defence may describe you as a person of ‘Good Character’

It was a legal euphemism, in British law  I believe during trial you are not allowed to refer to a defendants previous convictions or even a witnesses.

So if you had not been convicted of any offence previously as a defendant or as a witness you were described as a person of  “Good Character”.

This was a nod and a wink to the Jury and Judge , that as a Defendant it was a first offence and if not mentioned  the Defendant had a record.

Or as a witness it meant they were an upstanding member of the community.

And yet here we are in 2009  when a defence brief describes someone  as

“Normally of good character', with 'very few offences' on his record.”

and what did this ‘normally of good character’ person do ?

Vile thug spits in pensioner's face and beats her after she bumps into him on

I would say that a person of 23 with 'very few offences' on his record.”  can never be described as being of Good Character,

To do so, is to insult the millions of us who don’t have a single offence on record.

To add further insult to the victim, it seems they are trying to make out that it’s not the poor darlings fault and he’s ‘sick’

‘we ordered psychiatric reports to be carried out to understand why he behaved towards an elderly woman in such an awful way,'

I’ll tell you why he behaved that way, because I bet in all his previous ‘very few offences’ He was never sufficiently punished to a degree that showed to him that his actions were ‘Wrong’. 

Still as he was shameless and stupid enough to pose for the local rag, hopefully someone will give him a good thumping.