MAGISTRATES RESPONSE TO COURT CLOSURES COULD BE BETTER

 

by TheJusticeofthePeace @ 20. Oct. 2010. – 13:05:22

So now we know*. George [Houdini] Osborne hopes he has made the cash disappear with our hardly being aware. Ex chancellor and current Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke was almost gleeful when he announced enthusiastically his own proposals in August. Kowtowing to straws in the wind the chairman of the Magistrates` Association in January seemed to be acquiescing in the possibility of courtrooms being held in shopping centres much to the amusement of columnists and the embarrassment of J.P.s. This folly was repeated more recently by the Deputy Chairman and has been discussed at length more than once on this site. 

The refusal of the Association to increase its annual members` fee of a miserable £33 to fund professional PR is lamentable. And that myopic position has been exposed this weekend once again. In response to questions on the Forum of the Magistrates` Association Patrick Cracroft-Brennan Executive Director & Association Secretary said with reference to the official response of the Magistrates` Association to court closures that the official document will give members a much more accurate and in-depth view of the MA's position than The Sunday Times! I would opine that it is not just members but journalists who require the information in that document. 

The problem as I see it is that there seems to be no emphasis on those areas of the Response which are of paramount significance. The most important trees in the forest are obscured by all the wood. It has been made too easy for major items to be ignored in favour of anything that suits the critics` agendas. The M.A. is forever responding and fails to be pro-active. If much of the Response is overlooked it has only itself to blame. 

ADDENDUM

The Treasury has published some detail on today`s announcement. The bullet points are copied below but still no mention of actual court closures.
2.68 The Ministry of Justice settlement includes:
•• delivering better value for money from the justice system, while punishing the
guilty and reducing reoffending;
•• plans to reform legal aid, targeting funding on those who need it most;
•• capital funding for maintaining the prisons estate, for essential new capacity and for key invest to save projects; and
•• overall resource savings of 23 per cent in real terms by 2014-15, through reforming sentencing to stem the unsustainable rise in the prison population, using innovative approaches to reduce reoffending and resolving more disputes out of court.