![]() Magistrates will not need the exhortation of politicians to get tough with the looters. It's a curious system, peculiarly British in its way, but it works. It's absolutely right that this should be the case, since most magistrates are amateurs who rely on experience, common sense and professional back-up to come to what we hope is the right decision. If they want to send someone to prison or order someone to do unpaid work, they first need to get a report from the probation service or, in the case of someone under 18, from a youth offending team. Magistrates can choose a sentence outside these nationally agreed parameters but they have to explain in open court why they are doing so. For every offence, there is a starting point for the bench's deliberations and a range of possible sentences after magistrates have looked at any aggravating or mitigating factors, and at the offender's record and character. Formal sentencing guidelines mean that the courts can't make it up as they go along. It is, though, not the way the courts work, and a good thing too.ĭespite what the politicians think, magistrates are not routinely soft. ![]() The temptation to bang them up and throw away the key is strong, and magistrates will no doubt be encouraged to do just that over the coming weeks. ![]() There's not much sign that they respect the court, let alone fear it.įrom the bench, what magistrates see is a raging bundle of id impulses, the desire for immediate gratification untempered by a sense of guilt and with only an ill-formed notion of right and wrong. The teenagers are trained by their defence lawyers to express remorse but are not entirely convincing when they say they feel sorry for their victims. Magistrates are encouraged to engage with young offenders but it is hard going. When magistrates retire to read the pre-sentence report, they can usually have a good guess at the contents: learning difficulties, excluded from full-time education, a history of physical and sometimes sexual abuse, living in a household dependent on benefits. Only rarely do they turn up with both parents: usually it is the mother, but quite often they are on their own. Before the case can begin, they have to be told to take their hands out of their pockets, turn off their mobile phones and stop chewing gum. In the other camp, there are those offenders who turn up late offering a litany of lame excuses.
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