court observation project has been expanded to cover every London magistrates’ court following the success of its first year.
CourtWatch London saw 82 volunteers observe and report on 1,100 magistrates court hearings at Highbury Corner, Thames, and Croydon magistrates’ court (pictured above). Transform Justice, who runs the CourtWatch London project, produced three reports on openness, judgments, and the treatment of defendants with data from volunteers.
The project will now be rolled out to cover 15 London courts in the hope that the data collected will ‘shine a spotlight on what really happens in our local courts, expose shortfalls and highlight systematic injustices’.
Announcing the news, Transform Justice said despite magistrates’ courts’ importance, ‘local communities are almost completely divorced from their courts’.
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