The Criminal Procedure Rules: their part in improving magistrates’ service to the public

Nicholas Moss JP, a member of the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee, on the importance of the Criminal Procedure Rules to the administration of justice:

"Attendance at court is not the venue of choice for most of those who appear before us, particularly if they are witnesses, where their accounts of events is doubted and they may be subject to vigorous and persistent cross-examination. It is not the most pleasant civic duty. They’re all entitled to expect from magistrates not only a fair - a just - service, but also an efficient and a professional one. The Rules set out how that should happen. That is why I am concerned that the Rules, which are central to every decision that we take and, therefore, central to our commitment in the oath, seem to struggle to get the wide recognition among my magistrate colleagues that they warrant."