THE FAILURE OF SUPERVISORY BODIES BODES ILL FOR ALL

Earlier this month Mike Dean a hitherto respected and highly experienced football referee now retired acknowledged that he intentionally overlooked an incident and neglected to use the VAR technology to protect his "mate"during a match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur last season. The new technology was introduced to provide fans and the players with as much information as possible in cases where line of sight decisions proved to be difficult for the on field officials. A decision visible to all spectators live and on TV to overrule the VAR was disgraceful and has brought the whole system into disrepute notwithstanding the financial implications for the clubs involved. The referees` supervisory body will be unlikely to take cognisance of his opinions ever again and fans will have further cause for disgruntlement when a debateable decision goes against their team.

Football is a game and big business but murder is murder and one of the most distressing facts to emerge from the Letby case is the failure of several supervisory bodies and individuals to take action when eminent qualified personnel presented prima facia evidence of malpractice by Letby. But this failure was not an isolated misfortune within the NHS. Between 2005 and 2008 at Stafford Hospital the regulator condemned "appalling" standards of care and reported there had been at least 400 more deaths than expected between 2005 and 2008. It listed a catalogue of failings, including receptionists assessing patients arriving at A&E, a shortage of nurses and senior doctors, and pressure on staff to meet targets. The Alder Hey organs scandal involved the unauthorised removal, retention, and disposal of human tissue, including children’s organs, during the period 1986 to 1996. During this period organs were retained in more than 2,000 pots containing body parts from around 850 infants. These were later uncovered at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, during a public inquiry into the organ retention scandal. In the 1990s at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, babies died at high rates after cardiac surgery. An inquiry found "staff shortages, a lack of leadership, a unit 'simply not up to the task ... an old boy's culture' among doctors, a lax approach to safety, secrecy about doctors' performance and a lack of monitoring by management". The scandal resulted in cardiac surgeons leading efforts to publish more data on the performance of doctors and hospitals. One could say that the cover up of scandal is endemic within the NHS.

Between 1970 and the early 1990s, an estimated 26,800 people in the UK were given contaminated blood transfusions and blood products infected with hepatitis C or HIV. People with haemophilia, a condition that affects the blood's ability to clot, were particularly affected. The then government and those following knew of contaminated plasma long before it admitted it. A minister privately expressed concerns that Aids was being transmitted by contaminated blood products while the government publicly insisted there was no “conclusive evidence”, newly uncovered documents from 1983 show. Once again the cover up is equal to or more sinister than the original disaster.

Perhaps the scandal involving the Post Office is the most revealing of all. Over many years the Post Office, aided by its lawyers, engaged in what looks like a cover-up due to repeatedly failing to disclose what they knew about problems with Horizon across a number of court cases. Hundreds of innocent people lost their livelihoods, their homes and some were imprisoned as a result. Some committed suicide. In April 2021 39 former subpostmasters had their convictions quashed at the Court of Appeal. The court concluded that the Post Office should not have prosecuted them in the first place and found the Post Office’s conduct “an affront to the conscience of the court”. Such comments by the Court of Appeal are damning and rare. The Court of Appeal’s judgment in 2021 built on findings in a High Court case in 2019 where the failings of Horizon were exposed. The judge in that case also found the defence by the Post Office to be aggressive, excessive, misleading, and otherwise unsatisfactory. It included an application to unseat the presiding judge whom the Post Office considered was biased. Even in those High Court proceedings, the Post Office failed to disclose critical information about the problems with Horizon.

In all those matters those charged with the supervision of systems and personnel not only failed in their task but were active in the suppression of evidence which was contradictory to their interpretation of the investigation. And so to the magistracy with its internal supervisory system no different in its structure from those in medicine or football. Secrecy surrounds most complaints both from without the system and within. Individual complaints by magistrates are met with obstruction and obfuscation whatever the rights or rarely the wrongs of the matter. Advisory committees, if matters progress that far, are generally obstructive. Delay in investigation is the norm. Threats are commonplace. Investigations which reach the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office are just the tip of the iceberg. But what is common in all the above instances is the failure of supervision in one form or another. My point today is that the real failure is of those who appoint the supervisors. It has been estimated by those more knowledgeable than I that there are about 10,000 individuals who are this country`s decision makers. They are colloquially known as "the great and the good". A definition might be "worthy, distinguished or important people especially when gathered together." These are the members of interviewing panels for the likes of the General Medical Council and/or its disciplinary committee. These are the people who appoint government commission members. These are the people who appoint members of investigatory committees. These are the people who are responsible for the repeated instances of supervisory failings in so many areas of our lives.

There is no civic duty more important that being a member of a crown court jury. Life and death, innocence or guilt is in the hands of ordinary people with few caveats. 18 is the minimum age; being a British citizen is not a requirement, lack of fluency in the English language is not a bar and even a person with a serious criminal record can be a jury member. It is my opinion that a cadre of ordinary citizens be assembled from which cohorts should be entrusted with the choosing of professional supervisors in various trade and professional areas. Ordinary citizens with ordinary lives, interests and hopes for the future able to sift the often uniform education, backgrounds and aspirations of wannabe supervisors. Certainly the iniquitous results from current practice are now way beyond mere chance. They are a direct result of current system failure. When the cry in so many areas is more "diversity, diversity, divercity" where is it when actually needed? It`s not for more brown, black, tall short, trans this or trans that people. It is to salvage the confidence of British people in their form of government and its tentacles which reach right down to the nitty gritty of all our lives.  The pitifully repeated excuses of who? what? where? when? should no longer be even remotely acceptable. Failure to do so will be a catastrophe: it bodes ill for all of us. 

MAGISTRATES: ESTABLISHED 1361// BEST BEFORE 2023

I have remarked in the past about the press and PR department at the Ministry of Justice.  Its output volume in my opinion varies inversely with the quality of the progress being attempted in resurrecting what was once upon a time more than the fairy tale justice department it now is; when news, information and outcomes were true, sincere and to to be considered a great benefit of a society in which we were lucky to live.  Along with many other attributes and qualities of leadership there really was a spark, a light, which allowed Britain to be considered "great".  It wasn`t military or empire; it was we the people and our antecedents over the last century who inherited and nourished to the best of each of our abilities a desire to be our best for our families and for each other. It generally included, with some few exceptions, those we elected to power on all the levels from parish to Downing Street.  There was corruption and malevolence of course but it was recognised, faced down and life went on but not anymore.  The output from government departments was generally informative and consequently trusted by those to whom it was directed:  not anymore.  In May 2023 a Freedom of Information request was made to  the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):

"Utilisation rates averaged 64% across the magistrates courts in 2010. Courtroom

utilisation is the time a courtroom is used, against the hours that a courtroom is

available for use. The Government's aim that year was to increase utilisation of

courtroom time to at least 80%. What is the current utilisation rate?"

That request was refused on the grounds that 

"The Magistrates’ Courts are undergoing a transition to a new data and information system called Common Platform. Each court has a system (either legacy, or Common Platform when transitioned) for viewing the availability of its rooms and reserving them. There are some measures available centrally to show the total number of available court rooms, but at present the detailed records of actual use needed to calculate the utilisation rate sought are not available.

However according to Nick Goodwin CEO of HMCTS in his recent blog:- "Last year, with thanks to HMCTS colleagues, judges and justice partners,  we sat over 100,000 days in the Crown Court and in March 2023 we sat the most days in a single month (10,033) since July 2015. Our internal management information (MI) shows that productivity - sitting days per working days - increased in the second half of the last financial year, to average rates not seen since 2015/16, with November 2022 (443) the highest since November 2016. These are incredible achievements – particularly when you consider the operational volatility of the last 12 months – and I’m very grateful to everyone who has contributed to it."

The reality of court efficiency is indicated by today`s published figures of courts actually in use.  

Humpty Dumpty, that well known wall sitting English egg, is famous for his saying, "words mean what I want them to mean."  Now the government watchword could be stated as,  "we won`t collect statistics that are not of benefit to us".  In similar fashion the MOJ has tied itself up from head to foot in the sacred "D" word Diversity.  Like the RAF where we discovered last week that white would be pilots were refused training contracts on the basis that members  within the D ethnic groups were given preference the MOJ does similar but manages to keep all that information secret about the selection of new magistrates. Those interested in criminal law can hardly have missed the publicity over the last year or so where MOJ advertised at a budget of £1 million for 4,000 new magistrates.  This in itself was a self inflicted wound.  The statistics were crystal clear in 2010.  Thousands of JPs were due to retire over the next decade and beyond.  No attempt was made to replace them on the basis that since the then new government was intending (in private) to close half the magistrates courts JPs` numbers could be allowed to to wither on the JP vine.  The result is that there are now less than half the number cf 2010.  Hence the urgency to recruit in a similar fashion to the desperation to return police numbers  to the 147K in 2010 since more than 20K were lost similarly.  The result of the scramble for JPs is a humiliation for the MOJ. Latest figures show that 1,204 were appointed of whom 147 or 15% were considered "ethnic minority".  A FOI request last year asked inter alia, how many of new appointments of BAME identification considered themselves Muslim on application?  This was refused as was an appeal against that decision....."The response to the original request confirmed the information requested is not held. This is because the local Advisory Committees of Justices of the Peace (ACJP) are separate public authorities for purposes of the FOIA".  Perhaps an investigative journalist would be able with the means available to fish out this information which is likely to be somewhere in the bowels of Petty France.  If diversity is so important there can be no limit to the public knowing absolutely if eg born again Christians, Muslim extremists, Buddhists and others resolutely opposed to imprisonment are being appointed by incompetent Advisory Committees  in their rush for a magical ratio to suit their diversity prejudices.  

There are pressure groups trying to push such an agenda. "Transform Justice" began life a decade ago to do what it said on the tin.  Certainly much change was and is needed but it seems the gallop to a world where if Diversity is not attained all manner of tribulation will descend upon us, is becoming its watchword as Climate Change has become for many. The first couple of paragraphs in its current blog describing its latest initiative, appear to complain of the extent to which applicants to the magistracy must jump through many inquisitorial hoops to prove they are suitable for the post. To actually praise for once the MOJ the application process on line is a model of thoroughness and does seem to offer applicants the initial testing to consider if the position is worth pursuing.   The writer, herself a short serving former magistrate,  seems to be trying to justify positive discrimination in the selection process.  Positive discrimination is unlawful in the UK but positive action isn’t. What this means is that employers [JPs are not considered in law as employees but are treated by HMCTS as if they are unpaid employees] can choose to select candidates from under-represented groups as long as they are as qualified for the role as other applicants. Organisations are not allowed to recruit a person purely on the basis of his or her age, disability, gender, race or religion, regardless of their ability to do the job. This would be committing discrimination under the Equality Act. It is also unlawful to set quotas to recruit or promote a specific number of people with a protected characteristic.  It is highly likely that the RAF broke the law in its pilots` selection process referred to above. 

My post of 25th April 2023 concluded as follows, "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." 

I have no reason to change that opinion.  Indeed recent events have no doubt increased the pressure within the MOJ and from many legal practitioners, notwithstanding the judicial yes men who must hold their peace until retirement, that a lay magistracy no longer gives value for money {cf  salaried civil servants AKA District Judges (MC) if they would function without a clerk}  nor holds the public`s confidence.  I now must agree that the magistracy is not fit for purpose.  England and the legal establishment should come clean with the English public that the days of relying on unpaid volunteers to administer 93% of court cases belong to a bygone age.  Perhaps the top of magistrates` coffin should read "ESTABLISHED 1361 BEST BEFORE 2023"  

A MESS OF JUDICIAL POTAGE

It seems that the entry warrants scandal still has some steam in it.  The Times today features an article on pp2 revealing a letter from Right Honourable Lord Justice Edis Senior Presiding Judge of England and Wales that instructs the granting of such warrants to cease.  See below.

Of course for any thinking reader as I assume my readers are the question that comes to mind is how did this scandal arise in the first place.  The answer to that must be considered in the light of the enormous numbers of cases documented here over the last few weeks posts.  These matters of entry warrants were concentrated over a specific number of magistrates courts as noted here on 17th January.  Only His Majesty`s Courts and Tribunals Service would have this authority to instruct under the term of what I understood when active was THE Justices` Clerk who had delegated control of a number of courts where the on site boss was designated Deputy Justices` Clerk. As a new magistrate myself in 1998 after sitting as a winger a number of times on entry warrants I was horrified that very large bundles of warrants were passed for me to sign without examination. Subsequently I refused to participate in such a pastiche of justice.  My efforts, successful in the end, to change that atrocious practice ensured that all colleagues could participate in a systematic examination of all applicants` payment and social histories of those whose home they wished to enter to install PAYG meters.  Using the search box will open many posts over the last 10 years on this topic.

What dismays me most is the participation of magistrates whose compliance is an indictment of every single one of them.  They swore the judicial oath and when it mattered that it should take precedence over an in house instruction they behaved like sheep letting any conscience they might have had to be overruled by the fear of upsetting authority.  Perhaps now the reality of lay magistrates` subservience to HMCTS and their failure to confront that authority  will hasten the end of a system in which I was proud and honoured to be a participant.  Unknown to most observers in 2018 six magistrates were appointed by the powers that be to be leadership magistrates.  Their names were published here on 17th March 2020.   This is the official line: "There is 1 national leadership magistrate – Duncan Webster – and 6 regional leadership magistrates and 1 for Wales. All had to have been a Bench Chair in the previous 3 years, go through a selection process and have been appointed by the Lord Chief Justice for a period of time."  The names of the 7 magistrates subordinate to Webster are being withheld by the Ministry of Justice.  A Freedom of Information Request has been refused.  Therefore it is reasonable to suppose that with an impotent Magistrates Association held in contempt by many, these 7 appointees are acting as a fifth column on their benches and wider,  to influence policies and report on their colleagues,  taking such information high up the civil service and political ladders.  This insidious action is a danger to us all.  We think that justice (not policy) can be separated from the actions  of government.  That it can stand alone whatever the turmoil in Downing Street and Whitehall.  This seemingly insignificant policy ordered by government until its exposure, is a warning.  When those with judicial authority fail to be counted as defenders of that which they have sworn to uphold even at the lowest judicial level it will be only a matter of time before their senior colleagues are placed in the same or similar position. The problem for society is that unlike lay magistrates who have absolutely no excuses for their scurrilous actions except their own hubris judges have their salaries and future pensions to consider.  Be in no doubt there will always be those who would sell their (judicial) souls for a mess of potage. 

LAST CHANCE SALOON FOR MAGISTRATES

Regular readers might have noticed that there are two topics which appear to have more than their fair share of space of late in my weekly outpourings: the Single Justice Procedure and warrants of entry for utility companies.  The latter particularly is of personal interest because the criticisms beginning to arise to a wider audience inside and outside parliament have been apparent since I first sat as a winger in 1998.  The arrogance of various chairmen now known as presiding justices in passing a heavy bundle of documents towards me with instructions to sign and the encouragement of clerks now known as legal advisors to "press on" was against my very nature of inquiry and fair play.  However after some years research and persuasion with the assistance of a legal advisor whose ideas of justice were akin to my own my bench adopted the Best Practice Guidance as posted here 27th May 2015.   It appears that this example was not followed elsewhere.  Indeed like so many cover ups by supervisory authorities in this country, whether of errant police officers, bullying health authorities or childcare organisations to name but a few, the MOJ tolerated and in fact encouraged this practice of nodding through warrants of entry to cut power or installing of PAYG meters to those who could least afford the extortionate charges to feed those meters. The iniquity of this policy can be seen in the table below. The anomaly of the numbers refused in 2019 cf 2020  and beyond certainly points to a directive from on high to change whatever policy was previously operating.  In all probability from my own experiences this was likely to have been pressure from the gas and electricity supply industries and their bailiffs. 

YEAR        GRANTED        REFUSED        TOTAL

2019        277,142                1,824                278,966

2020        221,494                43                     221,537

2021        332,277                36                     332,313

2022        367,084                56                     367,140

In the period between July 2021 and December 2022 a total of 536,214 warrants was applied for by energy suppliers.  Of these the vast majority (536,139) were granted while 75 were refused. Assuming that such applications in my experience were held about once a month  simple arithmetic shows that each magistrates court in England and Wales on average processed almost 200 cases each month in that period. If my experience is a guide such courts were held either just prior to the main business of the court for that session or as first business at 10.00am.  In any event to facilitate the inspection of 200 warrants and to question the operatives sent to court in their applications to ensure their compliance with the aforesaid Guide would take a complete session of a court and that would add to the costs.  So once again His Majesty`s Courts and Tribunal Service sacrificed justice for cutting costs. This disgraceful state of affairs might not consume the debating time of our politicians as much as rape prosecutions or barristers` fees but  it has arguably a much greater effect on the poorest members of our society.  The government response is that in order to grant an application to enforce a right of entry a JP must be satisfied that there is a right of entry, admission is reasonably required and the requirements of the Gas Act or Electricity Act have been complied with.  The legislation [according to the government`s interpretation] does not require the energy supplier to demonstrate they are acting as a last resort in seeking a warrant to install a prepayment meter to avoid disconnecting supply. 

Assuming my comments on time involved dealing with the volumes as above it is fair to say that individual magistrates must be held responsible for failing in their duty as per their oath of office:  “I, _________ , do swear by Almighty God that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign King Charles the Third in the office of ________ , and I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill will.”  They truly have lost what little independence they have been left with since the turn of the millennium.  They have no body around which they can unite and offer their views on matters affecting them.  Instead they are considered as unpaid employees and when HMCTS says "jump" they not only jump but they offer to jump higher.  Their so called "leadership magistrates" are so enveloped in their abilities in using their tongues to lick unpleasant places that the MOJ keeps their identities secret from their colleagues so that they can act like stooges on any council in Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai.  Truly those who connive in this aberration of so called justice are nothing less than  MOJ toadies and the sooner this facade of diversity of local citizens for diversity in local justice is replaced by others with a true sense of duty the better.  This means that advisory committees must be instructed by a new cadre of civil servants who realise that unless changes are made the clamour of the legal profession for lay magistrates` replacement by District Judges (MC) will be unstoppable.  Indeed the magistracy as it has been known since WW2 is now in the last chance saloon. 

ADDENDUM  19th January 2023

On 17th January Mike Freer at the MOJ wrote to Sir Bob Neil re warrants of entry sought by utility companies.  This included the chart below.  The numbers of warrants granted and refused by magistrates courts is very revealing. Those requested at Portsmouth MC numbered 193,394 of which only 10 were refused. The next highest was at Basildon MC where of 61,117 applied for not a single one was refused.  However it must be borne in mind that HMCTS concentrates such activities at specific courts.  That does not explain the enormous differences in the numbers. 

Unfortunately resolution could not be increased

QUEUING FOR JUSTICE

"It is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”. This dictum was laid down by Lord Hewart, the then Lord Chief Justice of England in the case of Rex v. Sussex Justices, [1924] 1 KB 256.  It is remarkable that this landmark ruling arose out of a minor collision case where the fine was just £10 with costs. Yet the King’s Bench issued a rule nisi and ultimately quashed the conviction merely because the deputy clerk was also present at the deliberations in the chamber of the Sussex justices. A century on from that case can it now be said with any conviction that the above dictum is still applied where justice is dispensed?  I would answer in the negative.  It could be answered that the essence of the word justice in the above context  is applicable only in the courts.  Of course forms of justice and authority are applied in many aspects of society. It is not for nothing that the supervisory body for the control of courts is His Majesty`s Courts and Tribunals Service.  The list of tribunals and therefore the scope of control of HMCTS is so extensive that I challenge any reader to be acquainted with all of them listed here.  Can it be said without fear or favour that all the proceedings in those tribunals which are this country`s form of  the management of conflict and control  in a myriad of situations offer a form of justice which is seen to be done?  The Justice and Security Act (2013)   extended secret procedures into the main civil courts. Closed hearings are not unprecedented. Cases in the family division of the high court relating to child custody and divorce issues are regularly held in camera to protect privacy. However it is in the field of military intelligence that the use of closed court sessions can be most justified.  But secrecy has been endemic in British government thinking for generations; perhaps more than in any other western nation. When the open justice door has been closed once it enables its closing on future occasions when arguably the primary reason has been diluted. Currently it is the Single Justice Procedure introduced in magistrates courts in 2015 which has now reached the eyes and ears of the mass media. 

However secrecy and control have been utilised in another form by HMCTS with regard to the magistracy in particular. In London where I sat, for decades magistrates were involved in the control of their courts through a committee of  magistrates, at least one of whom had to be a district judge and mayoral and other local authority nominees. Not only did it own its courthouses and associated property but it also acted as a paying authority in its own right.  The magisterial member(s) was chosen by the whole bench and was usually the bench chairman him/herself chosen by his/her colleagues. In 2018 that position was reduced almost to an honorary position appealing to those who saw opportunity to advance their goal of  being appointed MBE or OBE at some future time.  They have been supplanted since 2018 by so called leadership magistrates; toadies to surreptitiously spy on their colleagues, leak propaganda to them, nudge them in various HMCTS directions...............?????   We just don`t know because the MOJ refuses to disclose their current identities or the benches on which they sit apart  from Duncan Webster JP,  OBE.   My post of 14/06/2018 was perhaps the first time this topic was aired publicly.  The identities of the original cohort I posted on 17/03/2020.  These names were apparently subsequently removed from publication. This is what Mr Google has to say.  The Parliamentary Justice Committee had its doubts on this innovation. 

There is no doubt that there are occasions when secrecy is paramount for a nation`s security.  Rampant Edward Snowdons are a danger to us all.  But within a civil population the erosion of open justice is a threat which must be taken more seriously by the supposed "great and the good"  although it could be argued that it is they who are driving forward this diminishing of our civil rights.  The most senior judiciary who are more concerned with their pensions perhaps than the finer points of citizens` rights under the law seem to break their silence only when their financial futures are securely within their bank accounts.  The axiom, If knowledge is power  then  secret knowledge is secret power.”  is probably drilled into the head of every Justice Minister and worker in Petty France.  Control! control! control!  A glance at any broadsheet headline or ten minutes on Twitter is an indication of where so many societies are heading.  For once we should be last in that long queue of aspirants. 

BAD NEWS FOR THEM AND WORSE NEWS FOR US

It seems that with Dominic Raab`s departure from Petty France the new government (for that is what we have in practice if not in name) felt that pressure on the courts would be relieved by the Criminal Bar Association`s acceptance of an agreed fee increase back dated to the backlog of 60K cases in crown courts. But no sooner had one head of the legal Gorgon been lopped off than others have appeared.  Solicitors are also putting forward claims for increases.  The Crown Prosecution Service, a direct employer within the MOJ, is under pressure from its diminished workforce of prosecutors for increased pay rates.  This from a service which, like teaching, dentistry, the legal profession and others has, over the last two decades, introduced a class of prosecutors of lower qualification to prosecute initially what were simple guilty pleas in the magistrates courts. And like the aforementioned professions their scope has been widened the prime purpose of which is to reduce costs.  On top of all that magistrates courts staff, legal advisors and court associates, who  postponed last month’s planned strike after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, will take action from 22 to 30 October at 65 magistrates’ courts in England and Wales over the  controversial Common Platform system. 

And that leaves magistrates, who,  for more than a decade have been considered in practice if not in theory as unpaid employees by HMCTS [His Majesty`s Courts and Tribunals Service].  Their morale whilst not measurable is considered by some as not of the highest level.  Part of the reason is one of out of pocket expenses; an important consideration considering that JPs are volunteers.  The mileage rate is now 45p per mile – the standard, HMRC-approved, rate. However it was changed some time ago from a three tier system which paid a different rate according to the size of your car’s engine. Those with very small cars were made better off, those with larger engines lost out to the tune of 13p per mile. The new system might be fair but inevitably the losers are not happy. If officials want someone to sit in a court thirty, forty or fifty miles from their home, they do not take account the cost to the magistrate of that journey before allocating that sitting to him or her. In response to requests that the paid rates should be increased to cover the significant increases in the cost of fuel, insurance, maintenance etc, the MoJ simply says it would be too difficult to introduce a new, fairer, system.  When magistrates courts were responsible for their own individual rotas such difficulties were sorted in house.  The take over of that process was the second in a continuing series of authoritarian grabs by HMCTS the first being the abolition of magistrates courts committees a couple of decades ago.  This has continued to the present when so called unelected appointed "leadership" magistrates were supposed to be a replacement for elected bench chairmen who comprised a national forum which could be described as a magistrates` senate. They most certainly are not.  They are self serving people with a veneer of doing public works looking forward to a gong which the civil service often offers to its own unlike that which is earned by fine people like my late mother for doing good works within the community.   

I am sure that many now on the bench must be re thinking their role in our justice system.  Covid 19 has reeked havoc on the courts as it has in so many parts of our lives.  There are three areas to be considered.  The best place to begin is the judicial oath which every JP must swear in a public place before being recognised.    “I, _________ , do swear by Almighty God that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign lord King Charles III in the office of Justice of the Peace and I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill will.”  With the introduction of the Single Justice Procedure over five years ago can it truly be said that those undertaking this position are following their oath?  The process is carried out behind closed doors where the onus in practice is for the accused to prove his/her innocence; where there is no possibility of outside comment because of course there is no reporting. But it seems there are enough magistrates willing to sell their souls so that they do not incur the wrath of HMCTS.  Indeed they might be described as spineless but their dark place in our courts system is self inflicted to some extent.  They have no way to resist apart from resignation.  They have no organisation which represents them.  Some might cry but there is the Magistrates Association.  But the Magistrates Association is to magistrates what the Spanish Inquisition was to heretics: a lingering painful  departure or a quick end. Its charter prohibits any form of representative protective activity.  It produces a lengthy 37pp account of its activities for the Charities Commission and specifies that its annual income from membership fees is £472,728 equalled by a similar grant from government but nowhere does it tell us in all the 37pp how many active members are on its books.  Generally speaking if the government whistles the MA does a jig. Unless magistrates have a truly independent protective organisation where individuals can exchange opinions and have a shoulder to cry on when faced with professional problems representation as we know it is a mirage. Indeed as a very early contributor to an independent forum constructed on the MA website early this century I have witnessed its being absorbed into the "protective arms" of the MA and then being removed altogether.  The result is as a body of around 12,000 souls nationally magistrates have no way to communicate with each other except in small voluntary groups

Finally and perhaps of most importance is the fact that so many defendants now appear for summary trial without legal representation or plead guilty simply to avoid the period wasted until court time is allocated for trial and of course to seek a 33% early guilty plea sentence reduction.  During the trial magistrates have from their earliest training been told to apply the principle of there being equality of arms on a level playing field and that their position is to sit as Zeus in the clouds and pass judgement on the facts presented. It is my strongly and long held opinion that whilst not approaching the position of "magistrate" as employed in France nevertheless British magistracy must be redefined.  And that means that a currently forbidden on pain of death interrogative approach must be undertaken when litigants in person (LIP) are facing professional prosecutors of the CPS.  During my final five or so years pre retirement when this situation even then was becoming not uncommon I upset many legal advisors and not a few colleagues by assisting those who could not quite formulate their answer in cross examination by the often incomprehensible legal verbalise of crass prosecutors owing to poor English or intellect or both and more significantly those whose ability to question witnesses was hampered by their inability to translate their thoughts into clearly understood sentences.  

Justice cannot be done in 2022 by habits formed in 1922. It is urgently required that an academic researches all aspects of the magistrates courts procedures from first appearance to sentencing outcomes with particular regard to those points above.  Only then will there be continuing public confidence in this part of the justice system; a part where well over 95% of justice is dispensed. And for magistrates themselves: until utilising perhaps outside influences attempts to attract individuals of the calibre of those of the last decades of the 2oth century will be blighted.  But as the cynic within me keeps whispering: governments are seeking ever increasing control of the legal system to suit themselves.  Sourcing JPs en masse as is happening now is not a clear indicator of  a desire to improve the quality of what was once upon a time the independent bench.  All too often the appearance is to reinforce the concept of  a master and servant relationship which is bad news for them and worse news for us.

 

A ZOMBIE NATION STATE

Sometimes I ask myself what exactly is a legal system; is it a series of laws? are these laws built from the bottom up (of society)  or the top down (of government)?  Are they meant to lead us or to follow us? Many thinkers more able than I have written millions of words on similar topics.  However we are where we are.  It is in the apparent anomalies of the application or otherwise of our laws where lie more questions than answers. 

Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states: "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law". Thus, everyone must be treated equally under the law regardless of race, gender, colour, ethnicity, religion, disability, or other characteristics, without privilege, discrimination or bias.  What a wonderful sentiment but anyone with the most slender connection to the workings of our legal system knows full well that in practice it ain`t necessarily so.  Power has privilege. Power is the ability to influence and make decisions that impact others. Privilege is advantages and benefits that individuals receive because of social groups they are perceived to be a part of. Privilege can be  a result of systematic targeting and/or marginalisation of another social group. Nowhere is power and privilege more demonstrable than in circumstances surrounding the royal family.  The furore surrounding the cretinous second son of the sovereign over the last couple of years in particular has shown the outside world what power and privilege can effect in the real world. The latest example of the House of Windsor`s claim for privilege was made public earlier this month when Harry of that ilk from his American home threw his rattles out of his pram when denied publicly funded police protection should he visit this country and in particular a service held today to commemorate the life of his grandfather.  Such benevolence was denied and he  remains in the Los Angeles sunshine but court details of proceedings in his action against the Home Office are withheld from public view. I assume that the letter of the law allowed the judge to make a correct decision but was power and/or privilege a mainstay of that legal decision?  Would Joe Blogs of Hackney have had a similar request approved in a court of law?   The judge`s castigation of his QC does little to remove a stench over the whole business.  

Meanwhile in Belfast a situation ignored by many in public life continues to poison the atmosphere and undermine the humanity illustrated in the film recently released of that name. Wrapped up in the blanket of jurisprudence the "will he stand trial or not" saga of an old age pensioner who was part of the British army in the period known as "the troubles"  continues. To any outside observer it is blindingly obvious that the law has little to do with the preceding decisions and the current reversal of the previous one.  The delicate balance between a government seeking to wash its hands of  its and our history at the same time as the fraught state of current relations with Ireland and the E.U. as a result of Brexit is more than just counting the angels on a pinhead but is within the no mans land of the legal tail wagging the political dog or perhaps the other way round depending on the observer`s viewpoint. 

Even with the input of supposedly wise men and women the law can seem to be not only an ass but an ass  having suffered a lobotomy. Illegal immigrants, usually working age males from north Africa or the middle east, have been having their phones confiscated upon arrival and those phones analysed for information.  Considering many of those landing on our shores deliberately or otherwise bring no documentation such investigation seems to be a sensible activity at a time of increased fears of terrorism.  But the law says otherwise.  There is an assumption that those who write our laws and those who sit in parliament to enact those laws do so having explored every detail from the opening word to the final full stop. We are fools to assume such.  The law is man made and man is not flawless. But surely there are better ways of applying resources than currently exist in such matters? 

It is a public conception and one with which I totally agree that police go after an easy collar.  It is one thing to be able to tell a cyclist that having no lights at night and perhaps wearing dark clothing without a high viz reflector is a highway to disaster and another to throw the hard fist of the law into a teenager`s face. And that is exactly what happened in Oldham recently to an 18 year old teenager. That he didn`t appear in court to plead is unsurprising; he is an 18 year old teenager.  Were those magistrates who sentenced him displaying wisdom?  I doubt it.  There was no compassion; they were following "the law".  I rest my case. 

Recent legislation will allow action to be taken by those who block our roads in the name of their "great cause", global warming.  They have used the permissiveness of legislation as weakness just as surely as democratic nations refuse to use undemocratic means to stifle those who would rid us of our democracy and impose fascism upon us.  That is a paradox that is lost to many and unfamiliar to most. But to Sherrilyn Speid it has meant she now has a criminal record and is disqualified from driving. Having personally experienced being held up on the M25 by these fascistic clowns I have nothing but sympathy for Ms Speid.  My first thought is whether or not she had legal representation and the second is whether she was offered a plea on the lesser charge of careless driving.  I hope she has considered the appeal process before it is out of time.  This is just another asinine example of British justice to consider.    

I cannot recollect an occasion when I was faced with a drink driver whose lawyer successfully argued "special reasons" why a mandatory disqualification should not be imposed.  I doubt I am alone.  The bar is exceptionally high. For Jonathan Griffiths at Llanelli Magistrates Court last week it was celebration time; his legal representative  had persuaded the bench that his client had jumped that bar.  Such a decision makes a mockery of the law.  It so clearly demonstrates that all are far from equal in its eyes.  That bench also should be ashamed.

Those who visit this site with some regularity will be aware that there is an organisation, the JCIO, which regulates judicial office holders who are thought to have erred in some way either personally or professionally.  What we don`t have known publicly is what happens when judges sentence so outrageously out of step with Guidelines that an appeal court virtually doubles the existing sentence.   If a surgeon amputates a right leg instead of the left he is likely to have his scalpel locked away for some long time.  Of this judge we can only hope that behind the scenes he is advised to leave his wig in its box until he has satisfied his peers he is fit for duty. 

Whilst we in UK have our legal anomalies in Texas everything is bigger.  They kill each other with increasing ferocity, they divorce so often as only God fearing Christians in the bible belt can do and they execute their murderers with some style.  And now those about to be given the ultimate sanction can have a pastor pray out loud as the needle pierces the skin of the convicted`s arm and touch him in his final moments. Such is the American idea of compassion; so much more endearing now that it has legal oversight. 

And finally in this diatribe over the manner of how the law works to the subject of the mass recruitment drive for more magistrates; a subject broached here more than once.  One would expect that those sitting in judgement over their fellow citizens would be cognisant of the effects of their judgements would have on the individual before them.  That they would have accumulated the wisdom to understand motives, fears, desires, etc that make people behave as they do. One would expect that those judges would be fully rounded experienced people and particularly that their brains would be fully developed.  One might expect those considerations to be uppermost in the fertile minds of those who formulate policies at the Ministry of Justice. One would be disappointed.  Notwithstanding that those inept minds lowered the minimum age for magistrates in 2004 their diversity infected co conspirators at  The University of Manchester are targeting students to apply for the bench.  Why not?  Diversity with a capital D is our driving force.  A country where so many children are virtually illiterate at age 11 that the education budget is still at 2010 levels. Not to worry; Eton, Oxford and Cambridge can still offer some leadership. This is the state we are in: a state where the NHS in some areas are asking men if they are pregnant before the application of certain procedures; where a person with male genitalia can decide that s/he should be known as a woman in all circumstances, where politicians lie to their interviewers caring little that we all know they are lying and that they couldn`t care less, where the law in so many areas is shown to be deficient, where guns have been sacrificed for butter and now we are being offered margarine at just the time we need more guns. The British Empire began bleeding to death in 1947: it is now rotting in its grave prior to its resurrection as a zombie nation state.  

 

SCANDAL OF SINGLE JUSTICE PROCEDURE IS A BLOT ON THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE

There are few if any independent observers who would not agree that the once highly valued English justice system has been brought into disrepute; in my humble opinion of course. The financial crash of 2008/9 not only brought down institutions it systematically led to a situation where the very consideration that justice was a service to the community in its widest sense was abandoned.  In its place the costs of providing that service became the criteria by which the quality and quantity of that service were evaluated.  The rule of law and principles such as equality, accountability and non-arbitrariness were no longer to stand alone as enabling justice to be upheld as a pillar of a just and democratic society. The old adage that justice should be seen to be done seems but a historical footnote. 

While Civil Rights has been a catch all phrase from all parties to debates on justice, it remains the practical experience of a right that defines its existence and conformity with the ideals of a just society but Rights must be effective, not illusory.  Just this week we have a government which is progressing through Parliament   The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Of particular concern to many are the increased powers for police to respond to non-violent protests which would expand the circumstances in which police can impose conditions on protests, remove the need to knowingly breach conditions in order to commit an offence and introduce a broad statutory offence of public nuisance with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Against a background of this government`s tendency to take an authoritarian point of view in situations others would have temporised is another change in legal process which has been imposed upon the justice system by diktat; the single justice procedure. 

It is no secret that there two widely held held opinions on the function of the long held positions of lay magistrates` participation in the justice system; many practising lawyers would like that system abolished and for District Judges alone to be in practice judge, jury and sentencer. On costs alone that has been rejected but in principle the second supposedly widely held opinion of governments per se  is that the lay magistracy is the backbone of our courts system  and will continue. Five years ago a major change took place in the manner in which minor non custodial cases were to be handled.  No longer would offences such as non payment of TV licenses or council tax be heard before a bench of three magistrates in open court: instead they would be heard in private by a single JP assisted by a legal advisor. The government public information  publication for the single justice procedure is available here. The historical footnote to which I referred above certainly does not apply with this form of so called justice yet opposition has been muted although the Magistrates Association unusually has in this event offered some criticism.  The number of cases progressed through this procedure is shown below.  It is apparent that the pandemic has reduced the rising trend in those numbers.

Latest statistics are that there are currently 12,333 magistrates serving c150 courts. They must have been successful in their threshold appraisal taken about a year after they have begun sitting.  I am unaware whether undertaking the SJP is a compulsory or voluntary requirement of a magistrate. I retired immediately prior to its introduction and certainly have been opposed to it from the beginning. A major criticism in addition to its being conducted behind closed doors is the behaviour of those presented with a summons to appear in such a "court".  A cause for concern is the numbers of defendants who do not enter a plea by post.  All not guilty pleas are regarded as going to trial. No figures are available for the results of such trials or whether or not the defendants appear.  It should be noted that interrogating Covid-19 offences in 2020 88.52% failed to enter a plea.  As with other "no plea entered" they would have been found guilty. A complete record is below.

To put the above in arithmetical perspective:-

2015    2.38% guilty plea    74.52% no plea entered

2016    3.1%                        71.61%

2017    3.46%                      72.21%

2018    3.45%                      72.26%

2019    2.95%                      71.64%

2020    2.17%                      70.65%

2020

Covid-19 offences    0.57% guilty plea    88.52% no plea entered

The figures for those choosing to put their summons behind the clock on the mantelpiece or with the unpaid bills in a drawer are alarming.  The chances of their appealing the decision or subsequent fine are unlikely owing to a variety of circumstances. Indeed the first time such a matter will have been brought home to them  is liable to be a debt collectors` claim or a foot in the door.  It is inconceivable that those who pushed through this so called procedure did not have advice that the tables above have shown; namely secret justice on the nod will not just garner little respect it will be ignored by those it was designed to ensnare. 

It is nothing short of scandalous that magistrates, the Magistrates Association, notwithstanding belated reservations, and the so called unelected  toads known as leadership magistrates ( use search box for details) have acquiesced in this process.   What we today consider fundamental pillars of justice cannot be taken for granted and must instead be subjected to a continuous process of revitalisation, dialogue, and improvement. Only when this apology for justice is removed from our courts will be re-assured that this government is at least attempting to row back from its apparent proto authoritarian behaviour. 

ADDENDUM 13th July 2021

Further statistics on SJP are available in table below

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2021-07-06.28183.h&s=%22magistrates%22#g28183.r0

TV LICENSE EVASION TO REMAIN A CRIMINAL OFFENCE

Will they? won`t they? push me, pull me to the top of the hill and push me pull me down again.  These remarks seem to be the underlying propelling thrusts of the government`s policy on BBC TV licensing.  Literally for years Tory governments have been hinting that the bloated BBC cannot be reliant on the funding (read taxes)  provided by every household which receives live television broadcasting. This news was greeted      positively by many outside the family of luvvies who derive enormous proportions of their income and wealth from those who are unable to feed their families even with the support of social security payments. More recently the current occupants of political power have hinted strongly that failure to pay the license fee will be decriminalised; ie such charges would be brought through county court and not the magistrates court where currently around 130K such cases are heard annually which works out at about 15 per week per court. Many if not all these alleged offenders` cases are decided through the single justice procedure.    There are about 26 million TV license payers ie about 0.50% of TV viewers` households have been found guilty of evasion. Along with the vast majority of my former colleagues I was none too happy with the situation. Invariably the poorest and/or recently arrived immigrants seemed to form the bulk of offenders although it was not unusual to discover that a subscription TV service was being paid for when the license was not. Those appearing before us were distressed to discover that that they had committed a criminal offence.  License inquiry agents tended to hold the first person to open the front door of a suspected premises to be the person responsible for the offence. 

Most members of the public do not know that they are under no obligation to open the door nor allow entrance to their property to an inquiry agent. I recall a case where that unlucky door opening first person who appeared before me and my colleagues was a visiting American Harvard law graduate who now as a result has a criminal record in the UK.  When my son went to university I advised him not to overlook requiring a license for his flat`s TV and never to open the door to an inquiry agent. 

The BBC having spent over a £1,000,000 on outside lawyers notwithstanding their staff lawyers` wages  argued inter alia that decriminalisation would cut their revenues by £300 million annually.  And to indicate their humanity emphasised that were the offence to be decriminalised county courts cannot take offenders` means into consideration when finding for the plaintiff who in this case would be the BBC. In England in 2018  the majority of the few jailed not for neglecting to pay for a license but for wilful neglect or  culpable refusal to pay the resulting fine were women who make up almost 70 per cent of those prosecuted.  Indeed 30% of all criminal prosecutions against women in 2017 were for evasion of the TV licence. 

But all that flag flying of the last five years or more has gone with the wind. Ministers have decided not to end the criminal prosecution of evaders and this at a time when the only companionship for many home ensconced children as well as adults is their television with its five basic channels plus those free to air. The recent government statement is available here. 

The free marketeers on the extreme right who have championed Brexit and rally against lockdown seem to have lost this one. But so have the government by marching up the hill only to march down again behaving like a simpleton who agrees with the last argument fed to him. So poorer over 75s will still have exemption from the TV tax but not those 65-75 year olds of similar financial status. It is one thing for a government to listen to its citizens but it is another to vacillate over so many of the decisions that must be made. That leads to general calls for decisive action in a myriad of situations.  It is but an early event in the sequence which leads to demands for strong action and inevitably to a strong man to provide leadership to take that strong action.  And we can guess where that leads..........can`t we?

WHY I WOULD NOT HAVE WANTED TO EXTEND MY BENCH SERVICE TO 75 (CONTINUED)

Given that I have unlimited time to offer my opinions here I am conscious that in order not to burden readers with what amounts to an essay or a newspaper column`s worth of diatribe I try to limit my outpourings to a reasonable length.  To that requirement the post of October 20th was an example. However there are so many other factors surrounding the magistrates courts system that I feel a further explanation is needed that justifies for me at least the title of that previous and this post.

Of  all the changes I witnessed during my tenure that which had greatest effect was the loss of all that was remaining of an "independent" magistracy.  My induction was as the end approached.  Magistrates courts committees were disbanded and in came Her Majesty`s Court Service.  That was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and was responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales. It was created by the amalgamation of the Magistrates' Courts Service and the Court Service as a result of the Unified Courts Administration Programme. It came into being on 1 April 2005, bringing together the Magistrates' Courts Service and the Courts Service into a single organisation. On 1 April 2011 it merged with the Tribunals Service to form Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service.  Over a short period magistrates found themselves bound by decisions over which they had minimal input. Speaking from direct personal knowledge as an example I was on my bench`s rota committee.  We had intimate knowledge of the personnel on our pre amalgamated bench and their various abilities to be available at very short notice. We knew their ethnicities and could endeavour to ensure when possible an appropriately composed bench. We knew those who had considered themselves available all day but had strict timetables for family duties. Our dedicated justices` assistant knew most of us by name and when and where to make contact.  No centrally controlled system was as efficient. During that period the Magistrates Association had a membership well above current levels and was able to be more pro active in our interests than the years since. Individual relationships with the Deputy Justices Clerk were first rate and combined with our District Judges taking on many aspects of our training pro bono we were a very cohesive well educated group. After five years absence of course I can`t compare the current situation but certainly it is hardly likely to be an improvement. Elected Bench Chairmen were once the conduit of bench opinion to the higher ranks of the judiciary.  Sadly that forum is no more.  Instead we have so called government toads otherwise known as leadership magistrates beholden only to the senior members of the judiciary who selected them and for whom they are supposed to "lead" JPs in the "right"  i.e. approved direction whether legally or politically. The "ship" of leadership would seem to be a submarine operating by stealth to torpedo any revisionary attitudes.  Type "leadership magistrates" in the search box for more information. The M.A. has itself been squeezed to the periphery of influence.  By its charitable status it is severely restrained from most activities except education when what is most dearly required is a protective organisation like the BMA to look after its members interests when in conflict with authority e.g. Judicial Conduct Investigations Office or  perhaps offering its members group i.e. reduced cost membership  of BUPA or the RAC.  Indeed the complaints procedure against alleged wrong doing by magistrates seems well documented with ample safeguards in a document of over twenty close typed pages of the rules and processes  to be followed. However the more rules means there are more traps for those enmeshed in a situation over which most have minimal control or a great deal of expense to ensure quality representation. I have personal experience of the machinations brought in circumstances when the status quo is questioned. For all organisations to be successful and efficient there must be trust between the governors and the governed.  Magistrates are the governed and Her Majesty`s Courts and Tribunals Service is the governor and in this situation treats and regards JPs as unpaid employees. It directs and supine justices clerks impose although they of course must do their master`s bidding. With my generation retired or nearing such a point the end of its influence and memory of independent thought and action  is upon us. Soon there will be nobody left to provide an alternative narrative. The ridiculous lowering of the age of appointment to 18 is an example of how those in the senior hierarchy of the Ministry of Justice kowtow to passing influencers irrespective of the logic or the political aspirations of those proposing such changes. One such influencer is the BBC. Last week I cut and pasted a tweet from it.  Below is the "non reply" reply I received when I complained about the blatant misrepresentation re "diversity".    

Dear Mr

Thank you for contacting us about a Tweet on the BBC Radio Manchester Twitter page. We are conscious of the need for Tweets to be worded carefully so as not to mislead readers or give the wrong impression about a story. This is frequently a very difficult decision for our editors, and we appreciate that not all readers will feel we get it right on every occasion. We would like to assure you that we value your feedback on the matter. All complaints are sent to BBC senior management and our online News teams every morning and we’ve included your points in our overnight reports. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC and ensure that your complaint has been seen quickly, by the right people. This helps inform their decisions about current and future reporting.


Thank you once again for getting in touch.


Kind regards,

Evelyn Hamp




BBC Complaints Team

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

I hope that my observations last week and above offer just a brief insight why this former magistrate is pleased to be at his keyboard and not in a courts system with almost half a million cases behind schedule most of this delay being due to the near death imposed by a thousand cuts of the MoJ knife since 2010.

MAGISTRATES NEED SUPPORT

Like many other Justices of the Peace when I began sitting in an actual court as a new appointee I was informed of the advantages of joining the Magistrates Association.  For a fairly small outlay I considered it a no brainer. I had in my professional life reached the rarified heights of being on the national council of the professional organisation which looked after the interests of its members including me.  Only later did I discover that the MA according to its charitable status did and does nothing to protect or support the individual member. The two magisterial colleagues, however,  who were our bench`s representatives on the MA council seemed to enjoy their position and persuaded many to attend the occasional lectures sponsored by the organisation. About seven years into my tenure I attended MA headquarters with a couple of colleagues having accepted an invitation to explore ways in which members could use their expertise in their commercial/academic/professional lives to the MA`s advantage.  I offered some suggestions and never heard a word subsequently. Around this time a colleague on another bench began a forum to which all magistrates were invited to participate.  I was an early joiner. Owing to dogma or personality clashes that independent forum was closed and simultaneously a new forum was opened under the auspices of the MA and regulated by volunteer colleagues. It was a well run platform where colleagues who had to be members of MA could vent their spleens as many were happy to do.  I was an early participant in that area also.  After being the recipient of rather unpleasant posts in 2009 I stopped my commenting and began blogging as an anonymous independent JP.  Some two years or so later the MA withdrew this forum. I tell this story to illustrate the MA`s tendency to choose secrecy over openness when there is that choice to answer or avoid criticism. 

It is well known that the number of magistrates has reduced in the last decade from around 30,000 to less than half that number; 13,000 today. Corresponding to this reduction has of course been a rapid drop in membership of the Magistrates Association. Added to this there has been a drop in the percentage of magistrates joining the MA. Latest figures extrapolated from the membership subscriptions filed in the MA accounts indicate that perhaps about a quarter of sitting magistrates have chosen not to become members of the Association. The accounts suggest that the MA`s income from members` subscriptions has fallen from over £926K in 2014 to £472 in 2018/19.   No exact figure can be given because the number of members does not appear to be published. Of course if I have been careless in my research no doubt a comment will be made by those who hold the secret in their grasp. 

Increasing involvement by HMCTS in training and general control of magistrates` activities might be a reason for the missing quartile. MOJ supervision of appointed and unelected so called leadership magistrates is a further indication of the slowly eroding influence of the MA.  Magistrates are sorely in need of a protective and supportive organisation to represent them against the often soul destroying investigations and/or complaints by colleagues, Justices Clerks and the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office where every year dozens of magistrates are struck off for failing their sittings requirements or worse. The need is there but the will is obviously not. 

A relevant post from June 2015 on MA attempts to increase its income is  available here. To provide the MA`s raison d`etre  further information from the horse`s mouth of the MA  can be accessed here. 

BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES

Many interested parties have wondered what has become of so called "leadership magistrates" appointed as the toads of the Ministry of Justice three years ago the T word being used of course in its pejorative form although whether the current incumbents have thick or poisonous skins is beyond my ken. All that is known publicly are their names and regions although that information had to be dragged out of Petty France.  Further details will be found on this site by typing "leadership magistrates" in the search box.  These folk are not representative of magistrates. The only representative JPs are those elected to be chairman of their bench or representatives to the Magistrates Association the latter body annually appearing to lose its credibility to influence the MOJ.  The latest example is that it did not know exactly how many magistrates were currently on the MOJ list.  To be fair the MOJ until very recently did not know either.  It so happens the number was 1,000 less than previously accounted for. It seems that now those MOJ lackeys representative of nobody but themselves and obviously expected to initiate or support MOJ policies has finally been exposed to the public in today`s report in the Law Society Gazette from where I have taken the extract below.

 "A  three-year Strategy for the Magistracy drawn up by the Magistrates Leadership Executive lists six objectives to create a ‘comprehensive and sustainable’ recruitment plan. These include exit interviews for colleagues leaving the magistracy and getting agreement from the ministry to set up a national steering group to raise the national profile of magistrates." [My bold]

Thus a further decline in the once was independent magistracy is taking place, as the war time comedian Arthur Askey used as his catchphrase, before your very eyes.