Phil Bowen
In Monday's Guardian, it was reported that "Boris Johnson wants to secure control of the courts and the prosecution service, a move which would put London’s Mayor in charge of the criminal justice system in the capital."
This is a new salvo in the battle to wrestle control of the criminal justice system away from Whitehall and give local areas more say over what happens in their area.
As I said yesterday in the Guardian in response, "greater devolution of the justice system should be seen as a positive step towards creating a court system which is fit for the 21st Century and fit for London."
Our research, Better Courts, shows that when decisions about courts are made locally, not from Whitehall, they are more innovative, better coordinated and more effective at reducing crime. The problems our courts face are specific to the areas they serve. What might make sense in London might not work in rural Norfolk or Cumbria. Judges are key to effective local courts and are best placed to manage them. Central control misses the point. Judges should lead local efforts to reduce crime and guarantee meaningful justice. And yet, as I have written before, local justice in England and Wales has had a hard time of it over the last twenty years. The centralising tendencies of the Blair administration have given way to the nationally controlled, market-led economies of scale approach of the Coalition, each in their own way digging up the grassroots of a justice system that can and should be responsive to the communities it serves.
In exploring the possibilities of a more local system, London can learn from other leading world cities, like New York. There, through local accountability and coordination, judges, policy-makers and agencies have been able to concentrate efforts to tackle repeat offending. New York City has transformed itself from one of the most dangerous cities in the US to one of the safest. In February next year, we are assembling judges and practitioners from across the world to talk precisely about how courts and others can make a difference in the communities they serve.
However, in saying this, the constitution and a separation of powers must come first. As in New York, while the system is localised to a degree unheard of here, efforts to reduce crime need to be partnerships between local prosecutors, local probation, the jails and the local courts. In some of the stunningly vibrant and local justice projects in New York, like the Harlem Community Justice project, children and welfare services, youth justice officials, probation officers and not for profit services are combining to provide the kind of services and support that young people need to become law-abiding members of society. This type of community justice project rests on collaboration and persuasion.
Moreover, it is absolutely right that the Mayor should be able to ask tough questions about the justice system in London. Why, for example, is the rate of successful prosecutions for domestic violence lower in London than in other cities in the country? But, equally, while the Mayor may want the justice system in London to be more accountable to Londoners, the Mayor must also accept that if he is to have local prosecutors and independent local judges, fully in charge of their courts and their administration, they can take a different view from City Hall. The Chief Judge always needs to be able to say no to the elected executive. In some instances, it will be vital to our constitution and rule of law that they do so.
And, ultimately, the law needs to be applied consistently across the country, even if the services, environments and programmes differ. Some argue that even this variation leads to a postcode lottery. But that argument is unsound. The instinct to smooth over the inevitable fact that the services, assets and problems of one community may differ from another tend to have a levelling down, rather than levelling up, effect. Variation and diversity are the cornerstones of innovation and often the creative well spring of collaboration. In delivering a 21st century justice system for Londoners, the Mayor needs to harness the dynamism of its local communities and local justice agencies, rather than seek to control it.