New courts management and the professionalisation of summary justice in England and Wales

Explores the impacts of the agenda of new public management upon criminal courts policy, focusing on the magistrates' courts in England and Wales. These summary courts handle over 95% of the criminal proceedings in England and Wales, and have been the site of many of the most dramatic changes in the criminal legal process in recent years. Argues that the new public management, or 'new court management', seeks to effect a considerable impact upon the structure of the courts, but its overall impact has been considerably tempered by the persistence of the 'old court ideologies', as embodied in the discourses of localism and laity, including the principle of judicial independence. (Quotes from original text)