Your editorial (30 January) says that boosting the sentencing power of magistrates is the wrong way to reduce the backlog of criminal cases. I agree. There is a more effective solution, and that is to restrict the number of “either way” cases that defendants can elect to have heard in the crown court.
There are three categories of criminal offence. One (eg assault, criminal damage up to £5,000) can only be tried in magistrates courts. One (eg murder, firearms offences) can only be tried in crown courts. In the middle are “either way” cases (eg theft, burglary), which magistrates can accept, but defendants have the right to elect to have heard in crown courts – and often do.
