After a couple of weeks away from here in some ways it is a pleasure and in others a bizarre revisiting of some strange criminal activities that come before the magistrates courts resulting in some equally illogical sentencing decisions. Regular readers might have picked up some hints that I am not the greatest supporter of the principles enshrined in Sentencing Guidelines. I am also sceptical of many statements emanating from Petty France home of the Ministry of Justice. A feature which combines these observations is that despite prisons increasingly approaching the point at which their overcrowding is becoming a legal, mental and physical health risk to all those within their walls the MOJ specifically denies instructions to courts to consider their sentencing with those facts in mind. In simple terms that "guidance" is to use community sentences and/or suspended sentences where possible even when the facts of a case suggest otherwise.
Two recent such examples are a sexual pervert and a teenage yob who assaulted a police officer. It is beyond belief that the former is not a danger to society; his record speaks for itself. Such cases rarely merit much media reporting because local press cannot afford the wages of even young inexperienced journalists who in decades gone by would learn their trade at the local magistrates court. The actions of the feral youth who committed the heinous assault, an action which should turn the stomach of most of us, were aggravated by his being drunk but that seems to have registered in the sentencing as mitigation by a bench which must have lacked training. It is absurd insofar as lenient illogical sentencing like those will raise the pressure for magistrates to be replaced by district judges but again one must consider whether this and other benches have been "got at" by their Justices` Clerk on instructions from above to avoid immediate custodial sentences. An explicit example of the truth behind unduly lenient sentencing is provided in this case. The report speaks for itself.
Last month at Leicester Magistrates Court a judge said what I was told never to say; he told an offender of what future action to expect if appearing again in court thus tying the hand of another sentencer. Such statements in my time on the bench would have been immediately criticised or worse at a post court review. But of course magistrates courts not being courts of record any sanctions would be behind closed doors. With a labyrinthine system of investigating alleged poor judicial practice by magistrates and district judges inefficiency and incompetence are bound to pass unnoticed either by a blind eye or poor housekeeping.
There are currently around 12,500 magistrates of whom 5,492 are > 60; i.e. 44%. The MOJ is scrambling to appoint another 4,000 ASAP. Sensible apolitical recruitment practice would be to select the best for the posts available with total disregard for any other factor. But such practice does not apply. The MOJ is so sensitive to "diversity" that despite denials it is almost certain that a quota system is in operation using age, sex and ethnic origin in the appointments mix. What is now happening is that in addition to many lawyers` increasing antipathy to the lay magistracy advisory committees are stressing the benefits to employers of their employees becoming magistrates. The underlying reason for this approach is the loss of working time by employed magistrates which must be suffered by the employer. In our financially straightened times this is unlikely to find their favour. It might be intolerable to many but the facts on the ground lead to magistrates being recruited from those financially able to to bear the burden of volunteering. With the loss of thousands of experienced old hands in the last decade it is, in my opinion, that the intellectual, self assertive and independent qualities which made the magistracy such a fine unique feature of the English justice system are gone forever. The result is that the day when Justices of the Peace are led out to pasture is just that little bit closer now than when I retired in 2015.
ADDENDUM 26th April 2023
For retired JPs who wish to consider reinstatement to the Bench this might be of interest.
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