Jack Straw accuses magistrates of clogging up crown
courts with trivial cases
The Times reports today that Jack Straw is blaming magistrates
for clogging up the Crown Court by sending thousands of trivial
cases that they could deal with themselves.
The Justice Secretary said that in 2007 about 59,000 defendants
were sentenced in the Crown Court for offences that could have been
handled by magistrates.
In many of those cases the defendant had elected trial by jury,
he said, leaving magistrates no option. An estimated 20,000 cases,
though, had been sent by magistrates when they could have been
tried in their own courts.
Mr Straw, addressing the annual meeting of the Magistrates'
Association, said that he understood that they took a cautious
approach and "the upper end of the prosecution's view" of a
case.
Figures showed that in 2006 80 per cent of fines for offences of
theft in the Crown Court were for less than £200 and 59 per cent
were for less than £50, he said. "Some of those cases may have
merited the attention of a Crown Court judge because of the
prevalence of reputation. But at the same time the levels of fines
suggest that some could have been dealt with just as effectively by
magistrates."
It was worth asking, Mr Straw said, whether the offence was "so
serious that a Crown Court trial is necessary. Or would it be
better — for victim, witness, defendant and public confidence — to
dispose of the case more quickly in the magistrates' court?"
If magistrates found at the end of a trial that their sentencing
powers were not sufficient, < then they could always refer the
case, he said.
In a riposte to Mr Straw, magistrates said that their powers to
jail offenders should be doubled from 6 to 12 months, saving tens
of millions in court costs.
John Thornhill, chairman of the 30,000-strong Magistrates'
Association, said that the move would save about £25 million in
trial waiting times and a further £40 million in trial costs.
He told 400 magistrates gathered in Birmingham that the
legislation to extend their powers to sentence from 6 to 12 months
was already on the statute book. If section 154 of the Criminal
Justice Act 2003 was implemented, then magistrates' courts could
take a large swathe of work from the Crown Court, he said.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said that there were no current
plans to change magistrates' sentencing powers.
"We believe magistrates have sufficient sentencing powers. In
his speech on Saturday, the Justice Secretary encouraged them to
use these powers to their full extent on appropriate cases rather
than referring them to the Crown Court, which can delay justice for
the victim and incur additional costs," he said.
Posted 17.11.09