Why do British authors keep making this very obvious mistake?

[YaWeeFurryBastard]

Yet again I’m reading an otherwise good book which refers to a character being unable to put up the money to make bail. This is set in England, bail in England does not require a surety payment except in very limited circumstances. Why do authors or editors not check this to make sure it’s factually accurate?!

See also characters being bailed after they’ve been charged with murder, something which is particularly unheard of in England. Magistrates don’t have the power to grant bail for murder charges.

Surely at some point pre publishing, someone with a basic knowledge of the English legal system reads the book, or do they just not care?

I’m probably very over invested but it’s bloody annoying and almost undermines an otherwise believable story.

@DappledThings - I learnt English in Germany in school and jumper was the woolen one you only wear in winter and sweater was a sweatshirt you wear all year round.

I’m in my 60s and sweater has been used interchangeably with jumper or pullover all my life.

I’m not convinced that it is an Americanism.

This UK solicitor explains statutory rape in the UK so it is apparently applicable here: https://www.stuartmillersolicitors.co.uk/difference-rape-statutory-rape/

I heard an actor refer to "breaking and entering" as a crime in a UK drama recently, when there's no such crime here.

My mum (in her 70s) used it once and didn't get why I was to supposed to hear her say it. I'm in my 40s and have only heard it as an Americanism until about 10 years ago when I started seeing it in books.

It will always jar for me.

I read a book where there was a coroner in Scotland. We don’t have them.

It’s incredibly rare for caution to be required for bail.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I work in the justice system and books and TV get so much of it wrong regularly. There's a programme about people doing community service on the BBC, I only watched one episode, someone on licence doing unpaid work as part of that sentence -not legally possible, someone on bail don't the same having not yet been convicted for anything, again not possible, then they had to go back into the probation office which had court style metal detectors, absolutely not a thing.
The time frame it takes things to get to court, no way is a murder trial happening in a couple of months, it takes nearly 4 months to get a breach into magistrates court here, let alone listing time for a full crown court trial.
Do some basic research, it's not difficult.

You do get honourable exceptions to the general lack of research. Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe books contain lots of notes about who really did XYZ action.

I'm a journalist so inaccuracies about reporting (especially what can be published about ongoing court cases and crimes) really annoy me. As well as the behaviour of journos on TV and in books.

However, I also write novels for a large international publisher. My books sell in the UK and the US and I have never been asked to change any words to American versions like pavement to sidewalk.

The only time this has happened was when a different publisher picked up a book for the States and it went back to copy edit. So they changed all the spellings etc and a few words (off the top of my head I can remember a mention of The Times being changed to The London Times for example). That's v definitely the US edition though and you can buy the UK edition too, obviously.

@toomanytonotice but yes, I’m medical and lot’s of tv programmes have contracted advisors- but when you advise that their storyline wouldn’t happen they’re just “oh well the correct way doesn’t fit the character/storyline, so we’ll keep it how it is”.

Well, yes - as a former book editor, I can see their point. If TV series and novels stuck to closely to life, they'd be just as dull and drawn-out as the real thing. Who wants to watch all the paperwork, delays and bureaucracy that an actual trial or detective investigation or medical procedure involves? You've got to cut to the good stuff!

Small inaccuracies, such as slip-ups in the matter of legumes (as per PP) - I can see why this would bother some people, but honestly, it's impossible for an editor to check every single little fact in a book without going way over time and budget.

What really matters is the story. If it's gripping enough, you won't notice the legumes.

@DappledThings In Rose Madder, Stephen King describes one of the characters wearing “a denim jumper” and for ages I was baffled by this bizarre sounding garment and tried to imagine what it would look like. It must have been literally years later when I realised that it was a dungaree-style dress…..

As an American, I’ve always wanted to offer my services to authors from the UK who write American characters. I remember the first time I noticed it, a character was saying “they can do us a table in the corner”. That was years ago; funny the things that stick with you!

My DCs were given a US version of some Julia Donaldson books which was just bizarre. The dragon has fries with his witch!

And I first read a US version of Harry Potter in which they had changed some, but not all, Mum to Mom.

However when we had to call the police because my 12 year old had hurt me by throwing something at me (and the police and our family worker told us to keep doing it so they can record that nobody is helping us) they asked what we wanted to happen (i.e. should they arrest him/charge him).

Yes, the phrase is commonly used to describe the act in the UK but we don’t have a criminal offence called ‘statutory rape’ - so when people say that someone could be charged with statutory rape - no, he couldn’t, not in the UK (in the way that he or SHE could be in America).

Do you not realise that chick-lit authors such as parks and kinsella are also writing for an American audience
English-based TV series are now using 'gotten' and 'excited for you' bollocks in order to export programmes to america
so yes, they try and shoe-horn ridiculous american processes into english ones

Has the law changed @YaWeeFurryBastard ?
Someone in DH's family stumped up a very large sum of money to 'bail' their FIL 20 or 25 years ago. He stayed with them under restrictive conditions until trial, in which he was found guilty and charged.

Oh please, that would mean some thought would be required
From a nation of people who drive a block

Not that I’m aware of. It’s very unusual for a surety payment to be required in the UK. Bail is decided based on seriousness of offence, the likelihood of reoffending whilst on bail and the likelihood of the defendant absconding. Sometimes a surety payment can be offered as an extra bargaining chip as in “I’ll give you £200k as surety I won’t abscond” but it’s very unusual in the UK. I know someone very rich who was charged with rape and offered millions as a surety, which was declined and he was remanded. Bail bondsmen don’t exist like they do in the US for this reason.

He won’t have been found guilty and charged, the charged part always comes first, i.e. you must be charged to be put on trial.

Thank you @YaWeeFurryBastard I see, charged first of course. And yes there was practically zero chance of re-offence in his case.

My grandmother, born in 1899 and Northern always called torches flashlights.

She wouldn’t have been influenced by many Americanisms, didn’t live near an American base in the war or ever talk about having met any Americans then , not really one for going to the cinema.

An American writer, but The Lost Apothecary set in London is just one long string of anachronisms and inaccuracies, some of which open up huge plot holes. I had to keep reading because it was a book club book.

I think the editor had been at the tinctures.

Publishers don't have the budget to employ a lawyer to read every crime novel for accuracy! They depend on the author doing their research. And the copyeditor and proofreader picking up any errors...

That's interesting; I'm in Yorkshire and I don't think it's a regional use where I am. I'm trying to remember if the book was supposed to be set in any particular region of the UK.

It’s prevalent in films as well.

This is generally true in most jurisdictions in the US as well. The state decides whether or not to prosecute. However, it is often very difficult to do if the victim does not want to participate in the proceedings or refuses to cooperate so sometimes cases are not pursued for this reason.