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Yates, Shaun (2026) Pilot study of CourtWatch London 2.0 observation forms. Working Paper. Centre for Applied Research in Empowering Society Working Paper Series, London.
This pilot study examines seven volunteers’ use of draft CourtWatch London 2.0 observation forms, investigating the usefulness of such forms for gathering data from the public galleries of magistrates’ courts. The purpose of this evaluation is to aid CourtWatch London in its objective to develop policy reforms that improve the summary justice process in England and Wales. The results of this pilot were timely, as they were communicated to CourtWatch London before it rolled out the second iteration of the court observation project it successfully launched in 2023. That earlier project resulted in a series of policy-reform papers being produced and forwarded to the Ministry of Justice, influencing justice policy in England and Wales. To this end, this pilot has supported CourtWatch London’s ongoing mission to improve the quality of criminal justice in England and Wales.
This pilot study, which took place on 15 January 2025 at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, London, involved one volunteer organiser, Dr Shaun S. Yates, and seven student volunteers enrolled in criminology-related higher education courses. The volunteers observed proceedings across various courtroom types over the morning period. Following this, the organiser conducted a two-hour unstructured group interview with the volunteers to collect feedback regarding the usefulness of the observation forms (see Section 3; also see Appendices 1 and 2). This pilot found that, overall, the forms for collecting data from the courts were useful but could be improved. The volunteers reported that the design of the forms made it difficult to record data (see Section 3.1). At the same time, the volunteers wanted the forms to be expanded to allow them to record data that they felt was pertinent to fully capturing the quality of justice the courts delivered (see Section 3.2).
This pilot study concludes by emphasising three points: (1) the importance of pre-observation training for volunteers; (2) the potential value of including digital means of note-taking, in keeping with Transform Justice’s commitment to diversity and inclusion; and (3) the need for additional data collection boxes on the forms to allow volunteers, and subsequently CourtWatch London researchers, to comment on a greater range of issues relating to the quality of summary justice (further discussed in Section 4).
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
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