Stephen Whitehead
Today’s Justice Select Committee report on the role of the magistracy, throws down a gauntlet for the government. It paints a picture of a magistracy suffering from benign neglect – one without a “meaningful strategy” for recruitment or training.
But alongside the gloom and doom is a vision of a revitalised magistracy supported by appraisal and continuous professional development . And it seems that problem-solving courts are a core part of that vision. The committee calls for all magistrates to be given the power to review offenders on community orders, which is a key ingredient of problem-solving.
The committee also highlights the broad range of support for problem-solving: it cites evidence from many magistrates, experts like Professor Jane Donoghue and reformers like the Howard League for Penal Reform, all backing a vision of our lower courts focusing on addressing the issues that bring people to court.
A time for action on problem-solving
However, while the committee endorses problem-solving, it also notes that the future of the project is uncertain. It highlights that, while Michael Gove and the Lord Chief Justice established a joint working group to explore the idea back in February, it is now “unclear to what extent, and within what time frame, the Government will be progressing the working group’s recommendations.”
That’s something we noted too. That’s why our recent paper problem-solving courts: a delivery plan attempted to chart an affordable, practical and sustainable path towards a set of problem-solving court pilots which can help us assess the potential for problem-solving to cut crime in this country.
Our plan is guided by the insight that our existing problem-solving courts are built on leadership from local judges and the commitment of local services to a new way of working. They demonstrate that the resources to deliver sustainable approaches are already present in local areas. All that is needed is to bring them together in a new way.
We agree with the select committee that problem-solving can be an important component of the future of our magistrates courts. And our work has demonstrated that it can be both effective and practical. Now it’s time to put it into practice.