The
Ministry of Justice is really becoming repetitious in devising out of
court tasks for magistrates. Our numbers are falling like the winter
rain in the Western Isles. Various reasons are behind this drastic
drop in numbers; the age profile of J.P.s, reduction in new
appointees owing to fewer offenders coming to court, reduced number
of courts and increasing numbers of District Judges. The MOJ and
Magistrates Association talk up the wondrous world of out of court
opportunities for my colleagues and me....magistrates in the
community, mediation, local rehabilitation councils or similar,
oversight of police fixed notices etc etc. The latest such wheeze
is the flying of a proposal to put magistrates on the parole board
not as individuals as now is the case, but in an institutional
fashion to oversee the early release of various classes of prisoners.
There is no official notice anywhere within the MOJ or Parole Board
websites of this proposal. Almost certainly it`s another kite flying
over Petty France. My fear is that it will be be treated with some
seriousness by my colleagues when instead it should be ridiculed for
the nonsense it really is.
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