Introduction to the Magistrates' Court was an instant success in the UK when it was first published 20 years ago and it has remained the leading work of its kind ever since. It has been consistently rated 'excellent' by reviewers. This fully revised fifth edition takes into account the wide scale changes in the UK which have affected the work of Justices of the Peace in recent years. It contains a unique insight and is highly readable for both newcomers and experienced criminal justice practitioners. The book contains an extensive Glossary of Words, Phrases, Acronyms and Abbreviations — the language of the system — which will be of particular use to people coming into contact with the magistrates' courts for the first time. It is fully indexed and includes a guide to further reading, as well as useful internet links.

The UK system of local justice explained in a book that has been constantly in demand through four editions - and is used by many courts in the training of justices of the peace. An excellent introduction.

The Crown Prosecution Service has an annual expenditure of £568 million, employs over 7,800 staff and in 2004-5 prosecuted about 1.25 million people for criminal offences. This study looks at its performance in making effective use of magistrates' court trials and hearings.. It estimates that ineffective trials and hearings cost the criminal justice system £173 million of which the CPS is responsible for £24 million. The report identifies examples of good practice and recommends changes to improve the efficiency of the prosecution of magistrates' court cases.

A key text for sentencers and practitioners in local magistrates' courts of the UK produced in association with various key bodies in that field: readable and accessible, a good introduction to UK sentencing law and practice at the level of the justices of the peace.

This book examines the quality and nature of justice dispensed in London’s magistrates’ courts which are the lowest level of the United Kingdom’s Criminal Justice System. In 2016, approximately 230,000 individuals were prosecuted for a criminal offence in these courts, of whom about seventy percent pleaded guilty and were sentenced. Curiously, about eighty-five percent of those who pleaded ‘not guilty’ were subsequently tried, found guilty and sentenced. This book addresses a central paradox of criminal justice: how is it that magistrates are able to reach a guilty verdict despite the elusive and complex nature of ‘truth’ and reality? Research, together with observations of 238 remand hearings and 23 trials has led the author to arrive at some uncomfortable conclusions about a legal system undermined by government austerity policies and lacking in transparency. This book shows that the police fail to investigate most offences, that the Crown Prosecution Service is reliant on the cases which the police want prosecuted, that the quality of legal representation is poor, that magistrates’ decisions may be unjust, and that most defendants are not able to understand or participate in their hearing. Strikingly, a large percentage of defendants are from London’s ‘precariat’. They are young men who are destitute or who rely on unstable incomes; they are semi-literate, from Black and Ethnic Minority Communities, and their basic rights as citizens are being eroded. Because many are repeat offenders, they are recycled through the Criminal Justice System with limited assistance to address the problems which cause offending. Magistrates’ courts dispense ‘summary justice’ in very short hearings which means that defendants have a limited opportunity to defend themselves. In short, summary justice lacks basic due process rights in a legal process which bears a striking resemblance to ‘justice’ in authoritarian, non-democratic societies.