Magistrates' sentencing powers doubled in bid to tackle courts backlog

Magistrates are now able to hand out jail sentences of up to a year for a single offence in a bid to tackle the courts backlog – but lawyers have criticised the move as “counter-productive”.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced plans for the lower courts to have their sentencing powers doubled back in January as part of efforts to address the pile-up of criminal cases waiting to be heard – which was exacerbated by the pandemic.

Magistrates and legal advisers have been provided with training ahead of the move to ensure they know how best to use the new powers, the MoJ said.

The new powers, which come into effect today, apply to magistrates’ courts across England and Wales.

It is aimed at freeing up more time for the crown courts to focus on more complex and serious cases, as well as delivering swifter justice for victims.

The MoJ estimates the change could result in almost 2,000 extra days for crown courts per year.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said: “We are doing everything in our power to bring down the court backlog, and doubling the sentencing powers of magistrates will create more capacity in the crown court to hear the most serious cases.”

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Bev Higgs, national chair of the Magistrates Association, said: “We are pleased that the government has placed its confidence in the magistracy and introduced this power, alongside other measures, to ease court delays.”

However, the move has been condemned by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which represents practising barristers across England and Wales.

Jo Sidhu QC, chair of the organisation, said: “Keeping back more cases in the magistrates may in any event only trigger more appeals to the crown court, adding to the growing lists of outstanding cases and diverting criminal advocates from tackling the pre-existing pile-up of trials.”

He added: “The government may have (also) promised unlimited court sitting days, but there simply aren’t enough judges to sit because, as the MoJ knows full well, it can’t recruit sufficient judges who are in very large part drawn from the same diminishing pool of criminal barristers who also prosecute and defend and who are leaving in droves.”

The CBA said that the number of outstanding crown court trials is one of the biggest issues contributing to the backlog – which is unaffected by any change to the sentencing powers of magistrates.

It added that many defendants who are charged with offences that can be tried in either crown court or magistrates’ courts will also choose to have a trial by jury, meaning the sentence may not be dealt with by magistrates if convicted.

“We say this is counter-productive as many defendants opt for a crown court trial for either-way offences,” a CBA spokesperson said.

According to CBA analysis of the latest official data, the total number of outstanding cases across magistrates and crown courts stood at 432,899 as of February.

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