As I sit in my study fat snowflakes are lazily falling past my window, and the radio gives regular warnings of horrible traffic conditions. By good fortune, I cancelled a scheduled sitting for today, so I have no need to venture out. By even better fortune, I was due to sit at the least accessible of the three courthouses in my Local Justice Area. When benches covering three London boroughs were merged the then Senior Presiding Judge ruled that all justices were expected to sit at any courthouse in their LJA. Unfortunately there was no caveat such as:"if needed" so we have ended up with a situation where magistrates from the former bench A are sent to courthouse B, and so on. This has greatly increased travel expenses and proved highly inconvenient for many. The official travel time on public transport from the north of the LJA to the southernmost court is two hours each way. It is unreasonable to add four hours to a sitting day (and, incidentally, add to the bill for subsistence).
So here I sit, thinking about preparing a light lunch for Mrs. B and myself, and contemplating the pulling of a cork.
Life could be worse, but I feel very sorry for the poor devils stuck in a remote court wondering how they will get home tonight.
The LJA changes illustrates the balloon problem - if you poke it here it will bulge somewhere else. In this case, the savings gained by amalgamating courts are offset by the losses on higher travel expenses and subsistence.
ReplyDeleteI joined the Supplemental List seven years ago and have been dismayed at the numerous changes to a system, which while imperfect appears to me to have been better than what replaced it.
Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteBut don't get me started on the extra cost to defendants, witnesses, and the police - nor the time wasted on longer journeys to and from prisons. "The van is late, Your Worships, can I ask you to rise?".
Surely, if you see the sense behind informal alterations to these arrangements, it makes sense to conspire, sorry agree, with others to achieve them?
ReplyDeleteCould I draw to your attention the changes to payment hours to interpreters, highlighted on the excellent Justice of the Peace blog.
ReplyDeleteI know the Justice of the Peace [magistrate`s] Blog, but don't share @Anon at 12.55's asessment of its qualities.
DeleteThat being said, the situation he highlights regarding interpreters' starting hours is worrying, and he is right to have raised the matter.
I am intrigued to hear that up to two hours travel either way is 'allowed' in the Bystander Team's LJA.
DeleteHere in the countryside there is a theoretical limit of 1h 20m travel from home to court for both magistrates and court staff, which can equate to up 50 miles of driving.
But in practice it can take two hours or more to get from one end of our county LJA to the other, which as the BS Team points out adds four hours onto a court day - some of which are experimental 'stretched' courts starting at 9am and ending at 6pm, giving us 14 hours away from home after a 100-mile round trip - all unpaid, of course.
As a layman, it seems hard to understand why you should be willing to travel these distances and perform your duties without any form of recompense outside of expenses. Being a Mag looks to be largely a thankless task, especially from those you convict - and their families and friends.
DeleteDo you ever having any backlash from being a Mag? I mean those who know the defendant giving you a verbal ear bashing as you leave the court, or even following you home? That may seem a dumb question, but hey - I'm only Joe Public.
Anon (21:22) - within the court any 'verbal ear bashing' is likely to be contempt. Personally I leave court by a different door to the public and thus am unlikely to see any families. In our local area none of the JPs have ever had any hassle in 'public' etc. One did get a brick through her window with no explanation and it was thought it might be linked but there was no local or recent case that she could attribute it to; and I'd guess she might have upset a person or two in her 'real life' along the way!
DeleteBear in mind that whilst JPs are unpaid, they can claim financial loss allowance (although certainly I (and I imagine most JP's) earn more 'per day' than the max you can claim) - so it is not necessarily "for free"; and nobody forces anyone to do it.
For Anon @21.22 above...interestingly defendants rarely seem to recognise JP's outside of the court setting. Several years ago, we had problems with 'touts' trying to ask for used railway tickets so they could 'sell' them on usually to feed a habit. I duly sentenced one of our regular problem touts and was worried because I used that particular railway station every day. He never showed any recognition of me when I saw him there after that though.
DeleteSadly he was found dead a few months later from an overdose.
"A remote Court" somewhere in the outer wilderness of Greater London...
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 21.22, it's an interesting question, and the answer will probably differ from one magistrate to another. For many, it's an opportunity to put something back into society, for others to do something useful (the early retirees, the non-employed spouses etc.), but the magistracy is as varied as our communities themselves and defies easy generalisation!
ReplyDeleteAs for adverse comeback, surprisingly little. One chap did once make a shooting gesture at me and shout "You're dead, mate" as he was sent down, but often families are glad that someone has taken over responsibility for their troubled offspring or partners.
This is the sort of thing Bystander writes about wonderfully well at his best, and I hope he might take your question up.
In reality there is almost nothing we can do at the time if someone is being abusive, threatening etc. and clearly in contempt. The days of an usher for each courtroom are long gone. Security is usually just someone wearing a uniform and with little idea of how to keep anything secure. There is only one Police Liaison Officer for a courthouse so he or she isn't likely to be around at the appropriate moment. All we can do is retire and let the rant play itself out. I know many of my colleagues disagree with me when I say such contempt should be acted on. I can just imagine what the younger generation sitting in a youth court think when their appropriate adult can shout abuse with apparent impunity?
ReplyDeleteSorry if this is in the wrong place. Out of curiosity from someone who is not involved with HMCS, what power does a Magistrate have for ‘contempt of court’ and what exactly does that mean, and how is it dealt with in reality?
DeleteAnon @ 18:47
DeleteBystander could write a whole post on it, but in brief: JPs (and all Judges) have huge powers for Contempt of Court. Contempt is wide ranging and would be hard to define here - but in court is most likely to be shouting / swearing / disrupting a trial or attempting to intimidate witnesses - either from the dock or the public benches. The advice given to me is to follow this general approach (i) ignore it [usually court officials will act first]; (ii) if it persists warn the person (iii) if there is actually violence or a threat against a court official then act immediately to have them removed (iv) have the person removed to the cells - there the duty solicitor will normally have a chat with them and they will reappear later in the day apologetic; (v) we would expect in any serious case that the prosecutor might intimate their intention to bring charges but if they do not, the court can deal with contempt in the face of the court there and then with (IIRC) a fine up to £2500 or 1 month in prison.
Anon @ 11:21 - I'm surprised at that. I wonder if it is a local or wider problem. North of the border:
ReplyDeleteThere may well be no police in a particular court but they have been there within seconds of being called. The Bar Officers often look like they are just someone in uniform - but all of our local are usually very effective at dealing with difficult behaviour long before it gets to the stage a justice might be tempted to act upon it. Anyone using a mobile phone when the small slender 5'3" female is on duty is quick to discover her wrath. Many times I've seen her purposeful walk across the public benches to have a "quiet word" in someones ear, before I've even noticed them eating / talking / making faces at witnesses etc. Once someone made it to the dock whilst still chewing gum without her noticing, she came to apologise in chambers for not intercepting him sooner. She is good, but she is not the exception. An hour or so if reflection in the cells with a nice chat from the duty solicitor can be very effective at calming down those resolute on disruption.
Whilst "Judicial Deafness" has its place,
Local justice...think again. Making people travel for no apparent reason is balmy and costly. Of course in times of need or usgency traveling out of area is acceptable, it should not be common. Generally speaking long journeys should be deprecated in favour of local , accessible, relaible justice.
ReplyDeleteWell I made the journey that day and it took me nearly two hours! Not to do with the snow, mind, but and accident on the A40 followed by badly phased lights at the Perivale turn off. By mid afternoon the PLO had left as their kid's school had closed, likewise Probation. And the CPS didn't have a single complete file! I dreaded the journey home but it wasn't that bad.
ReplyDelete