Courts and Tribunals Observers’ Network

Ten years ago, the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) was introduced to make the magistrates’ courts more efficient. Designed to handle minor offences swiftly and cheaply, it allows cases to be decided by a single magistrate behind closed doors, often without the defendant’s knowledge or participation. Guilty pleas and mitigation can be submitted online, and most cases are processed in weeks rather than months. But at what cost?

In this new report, Transform Justice looks at how the SJP works and what it means for people facing charges. While the system may save time and money, we found some worrying problems:

• Many people don’t know their rights or how to get help with their case.
• Cases are decided in private, with no open court and little chance to ask questions or challenge what’s said.
• Organisations that bring the cases often benefit from the outcome, which raises concerns about fairness.
• Most people are convicted without responding, sometimes without even realising they were prosecuted.

This report questions whether the SJP is fair and finds it wanting. We call for urgent reform to place defendants’ rights and fair trial standards at the heart of the process.

The report can be accessed by following this link: Industrial-scale prosecution? Why the single justice procedure needs radical reform