Letter: Trial by JP

Sir: Dr Chris Payne (letter, 20 May) cannot have sat in as many magistrates' courts as he would wish us to believe. If he had, he would know that magistrates do not question the defendant "suspiciously and aggressively" or in any other way; they listen to the prosecutor and the defence and come to a conclusion on the evidence. Further, they do not "defer to the police" and "invariably find for the prosecution", as many disconsolate police officers would testify.

One interesting effect of the Home Secretary's proposals to reduce the categories of offences on which the defendant may elect jury trial may be that the Crown Prosecution Service may no longer seek to "downgrade" charges such as assault involving actual bodily harm (at present an "either way" offence) to common assault (a summary-only offence). This may increase the work of the magistrates' court; it may however have less effect on conviction rates than is anticipated.

Dr SARAH SANDOW JP

Twickenham, Middlesex