New Court fees in England criticised 

Law professor attacks court fee proposal
Mike Hough, a professor of criminal policy at Birkbeck School of Law, says that controversial new court fees deny defendants the right to a fair trial because they encourage the innocent to plead guilty. Professor Hough said: “I do think it’s a very unfair and very unpleasant bit of legislation that imposes very large costs on people without giving judges and magistrates any discretion to waive the charge where defendants clearly can’t afford them.” He also said he believes the changes to be in conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights.