Agenda item

Malcolm Smith, Deputy Bench Chair, will talk about the Magistrates in the Community Programme and how it involves you.

Malcolm Smith, Deputy Bench Chair, spoke about the York Magistrates’ Court.

1. He introduced himself and his two colleagues who also contributed to the presentation, Jenny Taylor and Bernard Everett. The purpose of their visits to this round of ward committees is to dispel myths and misunderstandings about magistrates.
2. Magistrates are volunteers, and their role is almost unique.  The first ‘justices of the peace’ came about in 1362, so the tradition has been going a long time.
3. 96% of all crime is dealt with by the magistrates. The remaining 4% are the very serious crimes which get dealt with by the crown court.  Their role is to hear evidence in trials and come to a decision about the appropriate sentence.
4. The magistrates now have the power to use problems in local communities (‘aggravating features’) as part of their decision-making guidance.  This came through the Criminal Justice Act 2003.  They are interested in hearing about the local community’s concerns to give them an understanding of which problems are considered prevalent in the local area.
5. The magistrates usually sit in groups of three to make decisions. The presence of three opinions form a safe system.
6. Sentencing depends on a mixture of aims: punishment, rehabilitation and protection of the public.
7. The advantage of the voluntary nature of the role is that magistrates are completely independent. They try very hard to act on the best interests of everyone. They are not under any obligation to the government. The judicial oath is sworn directly to the sovereign.
8. If anyone is interested in coming to the court, they can organise a visit including a tour and an explanation of the court in action.

Malcolm Smith’s colleague, Jenny Taylor, spoke about the sentencing powers of magistrates.  There are five levels:

·       Absolute discharge, which is rare.

·       Conditional discharge.

·       Fine, which is used most often.  The fine will be based on income which includes benefits.

·       Community order, including one or more requirements out of a choice of 12, for example, community payback, curfew or the Think First programme.  This sentence is organised by the probation service.

·       Custody. The maximum the magistrates can give is 6 months for 1 offence, or 12 months in totality.  However, if they believe that more than this is required they have the power to submit the case to the crown court for further trial.

Another colleague, Bernard Everett, spoke about the sentencing guidelines. 

9. When someone is found guilty there is a process they must follow to be consistent.
10. We look at how serious the crime was and the offender’s history.  The objectives of the sentence vary, depending on the offender. Protection of the public is the primary aim, and this can be achieved either immediately, by locking the offender up, or in the long-term, for example through rehabilitation programmes, which aim to break a pattern of behaviour.
11. They use the sentencing guidelines as given by the independent body, the Sentencing Guidelines Council.  Even though these guidelines are necessary in order to maintain consistency, they do have the power to sentence outside of the guideline, but reasons for this must be valid and declared in court.  Sometimes it is necessary to take into account people’s financial circumstances, so penalties are relevant to the offender’s income.

The magistrates took questions from the residents.

Q:  Does the probation service have a responsibility to come back to you to ensure that the probation has been carried out?

A: Once the probation service have taken over responsibility they are responsible for keeping track of the offender.  If the offender does not carry out their sentence, they are first given a warning and on the second strike are brought back to court, where they will either get given more hours or be sent to the crown court.

Q: What type of rating factors are taken in to account in the Micklegate ward?

A: Anti-social behaviour seems to be one of your priorities.  This is mainly linked to alcohol and drug misuse.  The effects of this behaviour on the local community are taken into account when a sentence is placed.  There is an awareness that anti-social behaviour is high on the public’s view of crime in the area, and it is these kinds of views which taken into account in forming a sentence.

Q: How much feedback do you give to witnesses? I was a witness to a crime before and it turned out to be a waste of time. I was made to come to court but was not needed.  I never found out the result of the trial.

A:  Whilst it is not possible to comment on individual cases, there would have to have been a very good reason for that case to have not been followed through.

The magistrates agreed to take the point back to Witness Support, which is a service available to support all witnesses, and thanked the resident for a very useful comment.

Q: Is there a serious problem of unpaid fines?

A:  No, the collection record in North Yorkshire is very good.  A recent report stated that the amount of fines collected in the last financial year was more than the amount ordered the year before.  When we give a fine we often give award compensation to the victim. Since April last year we have been required to impose a victim surcharge as well.

Cllr Gunnell thanked the speakers for a very interesting and informative talk.

Malcolm Smith reminded residents that they were welcome to have a tour of the Court. To contact him through reception at the Magistrates Court you can telephone 615200. The maximum is 15 people at any one time, but you will be given a tour, you are able to stay in court as long as you like, and possibly even have the chance to speak with the magistrates who are on duty that day. Mondays and Wednesdays are the best days to visit, but on Tuesdays visits are not allowed, as it is youth court day.