MISMANAGEMENT OF OUR COURT

There were four trials listed for the sitting.  Considering a sitting is three hours  the procedural formalities for each trial even that which seems the  simplest on paper can be quite time consuming.  Add to the mix an unrepresented defendant and/or an interpreter both of which are increasingly commonplace and the loosest of schedules can be widely missed.  That it wasn`t was due entirely to the ineptitude, inefficiency and mismanagement of the court`s and CPS administrative staff not excluding those in senior positions who appear to have no idea how to manage inefficient staff or are precluded from so doing by the machinations of the civil service and the associated unions.  We were told that the first matter listed had been discontinued precisely one day previously resulting in the defendant appearing before us at 10.00a.m. with her witness in tow having had no idea of the change.  The letter of discontinuance would not necessarily have been posted immediately the decision had been made. Indeed it was news to the court.  There was no telephone call, text or e mail to the court or defendant.  She was so relieved to be spared the ordeal of defending herself that she refused to apply for her travel expenses for her two hundred mile round trip.    The second trial listed involved a Slovakian accused of a minor traffic offence. He had brought  one witness.  CPS told us there was a single police officer on their side.    The case management form from the first listing at which our L/A had also been the L/A showed quite clearly that a Slovak interpreter was to be ordered by the court.  No such instruction was carried out by the court administration staff whose responsibility it was and so the trial was adjourned despite the bench suggesting that CPS “take a view” insofar as the offence was non endorsable and a police officer had already wasted almost a whole morning.

The remaining   two cases were dealt with but we still managed to end the session ten minutes over time.   This is the reality of a typical sitting in an English court.  There are of course the usual squeals of budgets having been cut by 23% since 2010 and consequent staff reductions of c 10%.  For these reasons it surely behoves management to utilise staff to maximum effect.  Grayling has insisted,  at least in the civil courts, that the courts in his perverse thinking  must pay their way like any other business.  He seems to overlook the fact that no business on earth would allow the mismanagement that occurs behind the scenes of my court or presumably any other.

MORE NUMBERS

Is knife offending increasing or decreasing?  What proportion of such offending relates to youth? Is the rate of custodial sentencing for knife offences increasing or not?  All these questions and others related are here for your perusal courtesy of the Ministry of Justice.

POLITICAL PAGE FILLER

Perhaps because I am alert to the activities of our esteemed Justice Secretary and ignore the efforts of his colleagues to secure favourable press and media coverage that I find this snippet from the BuryTimes quite nauseating.  This politician has done more than any of his predecessors to reduce the role and effectivity   of our so called local system of summary justice.   His visit to the constituency of a sycophantic colleague ostensibly in connection with magistrates` courts has, surprise surprise, no comment by or inclusion of a local J.P.  They probably had no knowledge of this publicity stunt probably arranged by the local Tories in collusion with the first non lawyer Lord Chancellor.  We can expect more of this sort of page filler as May approaches.

MALADMINISTRATION IN MAGISTRATES` COURTS

It is my opinion that maladministration in my court has increased measurably since 2012 and substantially since HMCS took over from the days of magistrates` courts` committees.  The latest figures from the Ministry of Justice on ineffective trials add more weight to that opinion. In 2013  there were 155,087 trials in magistrates` courts of which 27,247  (17.6%) were ineffective.  Of these ineffective trials  7,640 were owing to court maladministration; i.e. just under 5%  of the total trials  and 28% of the ineffective trials.    The 2<sup>nd</sup> quarter of this year shows that that  last number has risen to 29% and 18% of the total number of trials were ineffective.  In other words the problem is becoming worse.  I wonder if Chris Grayling will be braying about this most obvious indicator of his ability to undermine our justice system in magistrates` courts.  He will of course argue that the numbers are marginally better than 2006 before staff numbers in the courts and the CPS were decimated by the current administration.  Just how far he is prepared to go is indicated every day  by what he has done and is doing  to the probation service and our system of legal aid.   

NON CPS COURTS

Non CPS courts often provide the most stimulating of sittings where logical thought,  judgement and the ability to dissect legal argument are the basis of conclusions both on verdict and sentence.  I`m thinking  particularly of breaches of enforcement notices.  But on the other hand when a morning or afternoon is spent rubber stamping decisions on liability for the now defunct and discredited Child Support Agency despair is about the description best suited to put on line.  When Council Tax committals are also on the list one cannot but have some sympathy for a few of those who come before us.  They are the few whose lives are in such turmoil that any “safety net” provided by government or charity has netting with such gaps that one can only attempt to ameliorate their situation whilst applying the law as generously as possible.  It`s assumed we`ve progressed beyond the workhouse of  Victorian times but how far beyond?

At our last such sitting my colleagues and I left the building with the knowledge that as per our usual listing pattern it would be some months before we would again be assigned such a court.