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Donoghue on Magistrates' Courts & Anti-Social Behavior in England & Wales

By Lawrence Solum

Jane Donoghue (University of Oxford - Centre for Criminology) has posted Anti-Social Behaviour, Community Expectations and the Judicial Role in England and Wales on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This paper presents interim findings from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project on the operation of magistrates? courts dealing with cases involving anti-social behaviour in England and Wales.

The Home Office suggests that ?the training of the local judiciary on the impact of anti-social behaviour on the local community and the benefits of the enforcement tools available to protect the community? will help to ensure that courts deal with cases ?as effectively as possible? (Home Office, 2005). This has implications for how the courts, and magistrates, address community expectations. The emphasis placed upon the need for the judiciary to address the concerns and ?frustrations? of the local community in anti-social behaviour case outcomes (ibid.) represents a significant departure from the current operational structures of the judicial system in England and Wales. This paper considers to what extent the judicial role in anti-social behaviour cases is primarily an adjudicatory one and examines how far improving outcomes for ?the community? features as part of the judicial decision-making process.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on July 23, 2010 (boomark / email).