I've been reading a fascinating lecture about this by a respected expert judge made in 2012. So much that he warned about is going on today. The damage to the institution of the law is incredible. We know now that very few respect police but they also are increasingly doubting the legal system. One point the Judge makes is that genuine litigants or victims are suffering as the system is getting (or WAS - in 2012!) so clogged up that time and courts are taken up by this increasingly expanding amount of crooked scammers. Both criminal and civil courts now take years - not months - to schedule trials, the majority of which end up with claims being thrown out. Fundamental dishonesty is getting exposed time and again and contempt of court prosecutions are soaring, with false accusers ending up in jail (and, of course, occupying court time as well as overcrowded prisons). But frighteningly still the ENABLERS get away with it. Legal firms shut down and reopen under different names. Police get done for other crimes but escape prosecution for this. It affects social services and families. Yet still the media ignores it. It takes a MR BATES VS THE POST OFFICE to alert them. Even when a Carl Beech emerges, it is considered an anomaly and not a reflection of daily corruption.
The Judge goes on to say these crimes should be dealt with far more strictly in order to stop them. He points out the incredible expense - both to the falsely accused and to the Court system which has to employ so many people and so much court time. Often, trying to get that repaid, the false accusers simply don't have the money. They seem to have nothing to lose as they use the law to break the law. I consider this extraordinary. More than that - it's A GREAT STORY!

Excellent article in today's Times by Richard Moorhead about the collapse in the legal area - well worth reading.