Courts Minister Heidi Alexander has announced a major overhaul of the Single Justice Procedure, in a victory for The Standard’s investigation into the troubled fast-track court process.
The Labour minister told Parliament on Tuesday she is hauling prosecuting bodies - including train operators, police forces, TV Licensing and the DVLA – in for meetings in the next few weeks for talks on new public interest checks on cases they bring to court.
Ms Alexander has already ordered courts officials to redesign the Single Justice Procedure notice sent to defendants, to make it clearer for those charges with criminal offences.
And she has promised to confront train operators over “poor practices” in the courts after a string of embarrassing scandals
“I won’t hesitate to fundamentally reform this system if that is what it takes,” she pledged to Parliament.
The announcement comes after an award-winning Standard investigation exposed the reality of cases passing through the Single Justice Procedure, a courts process mired in secrecy where defendants are convicted and sentenced behind-closed-doors.
The investigation found children, parents, and businesses being unlawfully convicted, frail pensioners being taken to court over unpaid bills, and people with severe mental health issues or learning difficulties being fast-tracked to convictions.
The Standard also uncovered train companies unlawfully misusing the process to pursue suspected fare evaders, leading to around 75,000 convictions being overturned. And in recent weeks, it has emerged that at least one train firm has been bringing prosecutions without any evidence.
A key flaw in the process is that prosecuting bodies, once they have decided to bring a case to court, do not see the mitigation letters entered by defendants along with their guilty pleas.
Those letters sometimes reveal heartbreaking details about the circumstances of the alleged offence.
In one letter, it was revealed that a pensioner had been admitted to 24-hour care when he missed a bill.
In another, a mother said she was grieving the death of her baby when a car bill was not paid. In both cases, no public interest check was made by the prosecutor, and they were convicted.
The Standard has shown that cases routinely move to conviction in spite of powerful mitigation details.
Speaking in Parliament, Ms Alexander said: “I have listened carefully to concerns raised around the Single Justice Procedure.
“As a first step, I have asked for the courts and tribunal service (HMCTS) to re-design the SJP notices and it make it clearer.
“I will also be calling in SJP prosecutors to discuss ways in which we can ensure the public interest is considered by them in advance of making prosecutions.”
Questioned about the evidence-free train prosecutions uncovered by The Standard, she said: “I will raise that very question with representatives of train operating companies when they and other SJP prosecutors join me in discussions in the next few weeks.
“I am clear that the Single Justice Procedure is vital for the effective running of magistrates courts.
“However, it must operate fairly and effectively.
“Let me say this, I will not tolerate poor practice and I won’t hesitate to fundamentally reform this system if that is what it takes.”
The announcement marks a striking departure from her Conservative predecessors in the Ministry of Justice, who either ignored the growing scandal or acknowledged the problems without delivering changes.
The Standard’s reporting on the details of SJP cases started last August, and in March this year the Magistrates Association – the representative body for JPs across England and Wales - called for urgent reform.
The body set out a 12-point plan for change, including an overhaul of SJP notices to make them clearer and in plain English and increased public interest checks by prosecutors in the system. Ms Alexander indicated today she is set to deliver those changes.
Other proposed reforms which have not yet been addressed include greater transparency in the notoriously secretive system and better training for magistrates.
In September, former Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas said he believes reform of the system, used to deal with an estimated 800,000 criminal cases each year, is “overdue”.
Responding to today’s announcement, Magistrates Association chief executive Tom Franklin welcomed the news but said reform needs to go further.
“The Magistrates’ Association welcomes the announcement made by Heidi Alexander MP, Courts Minister today on the Single Justice Procedure (SJP), that she intends to make the notice sent to defendants clearer, and to discuss with SJP prosecutors ways to ensure the public interest is considered by them in advance of proceeding with prosecutions.
“In March, we called for SJP reform and published 12 recommendations to improve its operation, transparency and fairness. Our recommendations included making it a requirement that prosecutors see all pleas and mitigations from defendants before the cases are heard by the magistrate, and improving communication, through a review of the paperwork sent to defendants, to make it simpler and easier to understand.
“However, reform needs to go further. We are also urging the government to boost transparency by making provision for SJP sittings to be observable by accredited journalists, and by publishing more data on the SJP, such as how many defendants plead guilty, how many make no pleas, and how many ask to come to court, nationally and broken down by region.”
