Press release: Single justice procedure cases to be listed online

The online lists, live from today (Wednesday 5 June 2019), will be published daily before 10.30am and will contain the following information:

• Defendant’s first initial and surname
• Defendant’s home town and first two letters of post code
• Offence
• Prosecuting authority

The lists, which are produced by the Automated Track Case Management (ATCM) system, will refer to TV licensing (from the Midlands region only) and Transport for London cases. These are the only Single Justice Procedure cases currently administered by ATCM. It is expected all TV licensing cases will use ATCM later this summer and the system will also be rolled out to DVLA cases by the end of the year.

Publishing these case lists online will allow a more consistent and dependable flow of information to the public and media, increasing transparency in the justice system.

Notes to editors:

• The Single Justice Procedure (SJP) was introduced by the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 and allows adult defendants accused of summary-only, non-imprisonable, victimless offences to be tried and sentenced on the papers by a single magistrate without a hearing. If the defendant pleads guilty and agrees to the use of a SJP, or if the defendant does not engage at all within the deadline, the case will proceed under the SJP. If the defendant pleads not guilty or otherwise wants to have a hearing, or considers that the SJP process is not appropriate, the case will be managed in the usual way.
• Currently, these lists are published at the individual magistrates’ court at which the SJP case is being heard.
• Those requiring further information (including the full name and address of defendants) can request this by contacting HMCTS’ Courts and Tribunals Service Centre in Stoke.