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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I am most grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in this interesting and crucial debate. I underline the fact that we are dealing with offenders under 18. I became a recorder in 1974. That is probably the lowest rung on the ladder of judicial preferment. When, in 2002, I received a letter from a civil servant in the Lord Chancellor’s Department, I was still standing on the same rung. During those 28 years, I had experience of the Crown Court as a sentencer, and I had experience of the problems of the people who were brought before the court—