14.1.1 The decreasing importance of sentencing? pp 450-52

A recent study of court expenditure (Grimshaw, R. and Mills, H. with Arianna Silvestri and Felicia Silberhorn-Armantrading (2010) Magistrates' Courts and Crown Court expenditure, 1999-2009, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, London) found that the volume of cases brought to the magistrates' courts had declined by 16 per cent since 1998 whilst summary justice exercised by police and prosecutors in the form of cautions and `out-of-court' penalties had grown. Research director at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and co-author of the report, Dr Roger Grimshaw expressed his unease at this expansion of non-transparent justice: `With an annual billion pound bill for the criminal courts arriving in the government's in-tray, many magistrates' courts are earmarked for closure but we hear little about the massive expansion of cases decided by police and prosecutors. Where is the debate about open and fair justice? Are we blindly walking towards justice delivered by officials and consigning lay magistrates to history?' http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/prcourtsbriefing.html

14.3.2 Community and therapeutic courts pp 455-56

The initial impact of the recently established Community Justice courts in North Liverpool and Salford on reconvictions has been assessed by a comparison of people convicted in these courts, with a matched group who had been convicted elsewhere. However the research found that the rates of reconviction within the first year were not statistically significantly different. You can find the research here: (http://www.justice.gov.uk/latest-updates/reconviction-community-justice.htm)

The final report of the research on the family drug and alcohol court in London has concluded that ‘There are indications that FDAC may offer a better way than ordinary care proceedings of ensuring that the court system can help improve outcomes for both children and parents in cases involving parental substance misuse’.

See: Harwin, J., Ryan, R., Tunnard, J., Pokhrel, S., Alrouh, B., Matias, C. and Momenian-Schneid, Dr.  (2011) The Family Drug & Alcohol Court (FDAC) Evaluation Project Final Report. Brunel University, Uxbridge, p. 4.