Howard League blog · 18 Nov 2016
Guidance issued to magistrates following Howard League legal case
![](https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Frances-Crook-landscape-pic-768x513.jpg)
Some weeks ago Howard League lawyers took legal action against two magistrates courts for unlawfully ordering the police to arrest a child for not paying a fine. As a result the 15-year-old boy was detained for two nights at the police station.
I am extremely pleased to report that following this case new guidance has been issued to put a stop to it. The Justices Clerks Society, the body that advises magistrates, has told its members “not to request the court to issue a summons or warrant to secure attendance at court in respect of a young person for non-payment”.
We will now be requesting that courts monitor compliance with this instruction and put systems in place to ensure it does not happen again in the future.
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