Member

This amendment has been framed as bringing the Crown Court into line with the magistrates’ court, but in fact it would go considerably further. In the magistrates’ court, the extended discontinuance window is balanced by a statutory safeguard, which is that the defendant can refuse to allow the prosecution to discontinue and can require the proceedings to continue to ensure legal finality. The prosecution then has to decide whether to go ahead or to offer no evidence. But no equivalent safeguard is proposed here, nor indeed any other safeguard, such as judicial oversight or a time limit on when proceedings can be reinstated. Applying the magistrates’ court model selectively, without its balancing protections, would therefore be a departure from established principle and would create a host of problems for victims as well as defendants.