Magistrates: Westfield shoplifters should face shopping centre courtroom
Aug 17 2010 By Dan Hodges
Vacant shops in Westfield and public buildings like Fulham Town Hall should be used for pop-up courts to tackle low-level criminals, magistrates said today.
The radical step is being put forward as a way to speed up the justice system, cut costs and increase local awareness of punishments handed out to shoplifters and similar offenders.
The Magistrates' Association believes highly visible courts – such as in glass-fronted units in shopping centres – would offer a realistic and cost effective alternative to permanent sites, some of which would be retained for more serious cases where greater security is needed.
It is lobbying for court services of some kind to be retained at the heart of all London communities, following proposals by the Ministry of Justice to close seven magistrates' courts across the capital, including the 104-year-old court in Acton.
John Howson, deputy chairman of the Magistrates' Association, told the Chronicle: "What's happening with the Ministry of Justice proposals, in response to the current age of austerity, is to go for bigger courts further away from locations where crimes may happen, with potentially longer time delays – which for petty crime is not the way to deal with it.
"We need it to be dealt with visibly and quickly, and for the community to know what is happening so they can feel that it's being dealt with.
"Pop-up courts in a shopping centre where there's a serious problem with crime would show that the state is getting serious about shoplifting, and it would be an interesting concept."
Purpose-built courtrooms would have to be retained for more serious cases, which would continue to be heard in places like West London Magistrates' Court in Hammersmith, said Mr Howson.
But for crimes which are unlikely to attract a fine or community punishment instead of a custodial sentence, the association argues that smaller, temporary facilities could be used more cost-effectively.
Mr Howson said: "We need some courts to have secure docks, but for someone who is going to plead guilty on the first instance, a room like a council chamber will do perfectly adequately."
A public consultation on the proposed court closures in London will run until September 15.
A Ministry of Justice statement on the plans said the 'considerable' variation in quality of London's 34 magistrates' courts had to be addressed.
It said: "There is still a significant number that are over a hundred years old and many of these were converted from other uses and not designed with the needs of modern courthouse users in mind.
"We also find that some of our newest courthouses, with the most modern facilities for court users, are using only half their available courtroom space, whilst other, older courthouses have more cases listed in them than they can comfortably manage."
