Magistrates: Sentencing

(asked on 10th February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential risks associated with extending magistrates' sentencing powers; and what indicators he plans to use to assess the potential merits of (a) retaining and (b) reversing that extension.


Answered by
James Cartlidge Portrait
James Cartlidge
Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This question was answered on 21st February 2022

This policy will allow for some cases, that would currently be sent to the Crown Court for sentencing, to be sentenced and processed more quickly in the magistrates’ court, reducing pressure on the Crown Court and freeing up 1,700 sitting days in the Crown Court each year. This may have an impact on prison population as cases move through the system more quickly. Increased sentencing powers in the magistrates’ court could also increase the number of defendants electing for a Crown Court trial. However, while we cannot predict the behaviour of defendants, we do not expect significantly more people to elect for jury trial as a result of these changes. The policy does not change the length of a sentence that can be given for an offence, it just changes which court will hand down the sentence.

Once commenced, there will be continuous monitoring of the impact that extending magistrates’ court sentencing powers has on the criminal justice system in order to respond as appropriate to changing circumstances. A monitoring framework is currently being developed and will be in place prior to commencing the powers. The indicators we plan to use to assess the merits of retaining, or reversing the extension include the effect of the extension on backlog in the Crown Courts, possible effects on the election rate and possible effects on the prison population. These will be regularly evaluated, and the power to vary the limit of magistrates’ sentencing powers back to 6 months will be used if there is sufficient evidence of an unsustainable adverse effect on the system as a direct result of this policy.

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