The lord chancellor has announced that magistrates are to get enhanced sentencing powers, 18 months after the last government abandoned a similar initiative.
Shabana Mahmood MP confirmed plans to allow magistrates to issue custodial sentences of up to 12 months for a single offence, up from six months. The government claims the move will save about 2,000 days in the Crown court and help drive down the record remand population, which stood at 17,000 prisoners in June.
In March last year, the Conservative government dropped the enhanced powers handed to magistrates by then-lord chancellor Dominic Raab in 2022. Raab had been heavily criticised by parts of the legal profession, who warned of additional strain on Crown courts and the potential for undermining the right of defendants to a jury trial.
Mahmood said today: ‘This government inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, with dangerously overcrowded prisons and victims waiting far too long to see justice. This marks a further step towards addressing the deep challenges in our criminal justice system, both reducing the record remand population in our jails and delivering swifter justice for victims.’
The government added that magistrates and legal advisers will be fully trained in the new measures by the Judicial College, in order to hand down longer sentences effectively.
Mark Beattie, national chair of the Magistrates’ Association said: ‘Magistrates are flexible and support the efficient and fair administration of justice. By being able to take on this additional responsibility and hear cases that carry a maximum sentence of 12 months, our members will be able to help prevent an increase in the backlog of cases in the Crown courts, enabling the most serious offences to be dealt with quicker in Crown courts; speeding justice for all.
‘I know our members and colleagues will take up this increased responsibility with professionalism and integrity and will – as always – strive to deliver the highest quality of justice in their courts.’
Ahead of today’s announcement, the Criminal Bar Association reiterated its opposition to the move, which it said ‘will simply make things worse’.
Association chair Mary Prior KC warned: ‘This is a knee-jerk reaction, done without consulting, once again, the criminal barristers or solicitors who deal every day with these cases. The government must stop simply tinkering around the edges of a system in the midst of collapse. ‘We need to have a collaborative and sensible approach to the impact of sentencing when prisons are already full.’
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