Not So Local Justice

One of the early announcements of the coalition government was from the Ministry of Justice relating to a proposal to close approximately 150 Magistrates and County Courts. Although not completely unsurprising, the sheer number and scope of intended closures has shocked many communities with the realisation of long journey's to amalgamated courts. Apart from appearing to fly in the face of encouragement for sustainable communities, it also seems to strike a blow to the very heart of the British legal system - that of justice being dispensed locally by local Lay Justices. I haven't been at all persuaded by the argument that many court buildings are under used or are not fit for purpose, and in the grand scheme of things any likely savings are going to be relatively paltry. It also annoys me that this sort of proposal always seems to come along when vast sums have recently been spent upgrading buildings with the likes of new IT, video conferencing, lifts, furniture, lighting etc etc. I bet we could all name examples of this, together with replacement facilities that are likely to deliver a considerably worse service. Of course some see this as the thin end of the wedge in a scheme to either downgrade the role of Lay Justices, or remove them completely - it seems a strange time to be appointing 30 new District Judges (Magistrates Courts) when the government says it wants to save money. Finally, it strikes me that it signals almost the last nail in the coffin for that historically important link between probation officers and their local courts. A completely retrograde step in my view, but sadly the opposition to the closures seems too little and too late.