Cutting Courts or the State?: Is the Justice Ministry right or wrong on the Magistrates’ courts?
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As the Coalition proceeds with its policy to close one third of the magistrates’ courts, Politeia’s autumn conference will review the case for closure and whether the policy is sensible. Today magistrates hear 95 per cent of criminal cases with around 30,000 magistrates giving their services voluntarily, as they have for six hundred years.
The Ministry of Justice alleges savings (of around £41.5m) and claims the system of justice will be streamlined and modernized. Critics warn that justice will suffer and costs will rise. The policy of closure will reduce access to justice and bring a bigger state with more officials and higher costs. Besides, it undermines the constitutional principle of an independent judiciary. Who is right, the ministry or its critics?
Speaking at Politeia’s autumn conference on Wednesday, 19th October, were:
- Stanley Brodie, QC - author of The Cost to Justice: Government Policy and the Magistrates Courts
- Imran Ahmad, Political Advisor to Andy Slaughter MP - Labour’s Shadow Justice Minister
- Sir Ivan Lawrence, QC - former Chairman, Home Affairs Select Committee (1992-1997)
- John Thornhill - Chairman, The Magistrates’ Association
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