The chairman of the Sentencing Council has called on magistrates to send fewer ‘either way’ offences to the Crown court. The selection of such cases reaching the Crown court rose from 310,000 in 2007 to 353,000 in 2010. Lord Justice Leveson told the home of Commons Justice Committee last month that the Sentencing Council is recommending that magistrates don’t take the prosecution case at its most extreme when deciding whether to listen to cases. ‘I hope and believe that magistrates may be more prepared to simply accept jurisdiction,’ Leveson told MPs. read more … Read entire article »