Policy background Criminal Courts Removal of Local Justice Areas (LJAs)
This is one of several criminal court measures in this Act which will help create a more flexible and unified criminal court system. England and Wales are currently divided into 75 LJAs and this measure will provide for the removal of these jurisdictional boundaries. This will provide the magistrates’ courts with the freedom and flexibility to manage their caseloads more effectively and ensure that cases are dealt with sooner and in more convenient places. It will also help create a more unified criminal court system through the restructuring of the leadership and management arrangements for magistrates’ courts, so they can be more closely aligned to the Crown Court.