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By Jessica Frank-Keyes “This is tick-box justice and we should totally reform the system.” Penelope Gibbs, a former magistrate and director of campaign group Transform Justice, was referring to the Single Justice Procedure, or SJP, and how it is being used to target people who haven’t paid for their TV Licence. The process, which was introduced in 2015, enables magistrates to sentence defendants without legal representation, behind closed doors and based on written evidence alone. The SJP was intended to allow for a more efficient use of court time, quickly dealing with low level offences to f…

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