Magistrates' power gain receives mixed response

EXTENDED SENTENCING: government proposals questioned

Leading lawyers have given a mixed response to government plans to extend magistrates' sentencing powers from six months to two years.

Announcing the plan this week, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, said it would result in 6,000 fewer cases a year being sent by magistrates to the Crown Court for judge and jury trial - saving considerable costs.

The proposals would also put a stop to controversial recommendations in the Auld report on criminal justice to curb the right to jury trial for summary offences and introduce an intermediate court tier.

Law Society President David McIntosh commented: 'We are extremely pleased that the government has confirmed that defendants' right to elect a jury trial has been preserved.

We will look carefully at the proposal to increase magistrates' sentencing powers with a view to ensuring that there is no threat to that right.'

Rodney Warren, chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, while supporting the apparent scrapping of the Auld recommendations, said he was deeply concerned by the 'transparent attempt at cost cutting' as Crown Court trials are more expensive.

He also expressed unease at the 'amount of faith the plans would put in lay magistrates when dealing with sometimes serious offences'.

Andrew Towler