Almost half a million cases at magistrates courts are dealt with in private. It`s called the Single Justice Procedure. At the very least justice is not seen to be done. At worst it forms a basis on which a future government of a more authoritarian bent could extend this process and that is a road where blackness looms.
Below is from Hansard
Judicial Review and Courts Bill
26 Oct 2021
Dominic Raab: ...introduce measures that use new technology to streamline procedures to strip out unnecessary in-person hearings and create more efficient processes for allocation of cases in the Crown court and the magistrates court. That will enable swifter resolution of low-level offences such as travelling on a train without a ticket or fishing without a licensed rod without the need for the time and...
magistrates : 1 Written Answer
Written Answers - Ministry of Justice: Reoffenders
26 Oct 2021
James Cartlidge: For the year ending March 2021, approximately 670 defendants were dealt with at the magistrates’ courts under SJP where the offence was deemed ‘recordable on the PNC’, which makes up 0.1% of the total defendants dealt with via SJP in that period (489,910). We are unable to say how many of these defendants were convicted of the recordable offence without incurring a disproportionate cost.
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