Call for cleaner Magistrates' Courts
The Criminal Bar Association to ‘push for improvements and safety measures similar to those being considered for the Crown court.’
A survey carried out by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) found that 84.6% of criminal barristers are concerned about the risk to themselves or their household posed by returning to court at the current time.
Lack of hand sanitiser, soap, washing facilities and inability to social distance have all been cited as reasons for concern. Additionally, questions have been raised over the frequency of deep cleaning regimes to protect health of court users.
There have also been calls for the Magistrates’ Courts to be given the same attention as the Crown Courts, in terms of health and safety guidelines during the Covid-19 pandemic. Such measures would be to protect all court users from infection and include security staff, who may have to approach court users for security searches.