Lay People Flashcards
Qualification and Selection 8 magistrates
Must be aged 18-65 when appointed.Expected to work in/near to where they sit (Courts Act 2003 abolished 15 mile rule)Must to be able to sit 26 half days a year.
Six Qualities:1 Good character 2 Understanding & communication 3 Social awareness 4 Maturity & sound temperament 5 Sound Judgement 6 Commitment & Reliability
Disqualified if Serious criminal conviction bankrupt serving member of armed forces or family is in legal services
Selection process
Apply Local advisory committee-First interview,6 Qualities,views on local crime.Second Test of judgement role play of case.Successful name passed to lord chief justice who appoints or delagates a local judge to.They appear in court and swear and oath of aligence.
Can pass but not be appointed if racial / gender balence of the bench is nit achieved
Role of magistrates 8
- Deal with approx.97% of all criminal cases! Try ALL summary cases.
- Hear preliminary hearings and Early Administration Hearings of criminal cases before they are heard in full at the Crown Court. Remand and bail application hearings.
- Try less serious T-E-W offences. Hear facts of summary and TEW cases and decide verdict whether D is guilty/ not guilty.
- Sentence those who plead or are found guilty – suitable punishment given using sentencing guidelines.
- Refer indictable cases to the Crown Court
- Issue search and arrest warrants to the police and grant extensions to police custody.
- Can complete additional training to sit in youth court. (10-17 yr olds)
- Can hear appeals from Magistrates’ by sitting in Crown Court with a qualified judge.
Qualifications and Selection of Juries
Three basic qualifications = Juries Act 1974 says you must be aged 18- 76, registered to vote on electoral register and have lived in UK for 5 years since aged 13.
Disqualified = people on bail, had a 5+ year prison sentence (never sit), had a past prison/ community sentence (cannot sit for 10 yrs), people with a significant mental disorder/ subject to the Mental Health Act 1983..
Discharged = people who have an impairment that prevents them from sitting on a jury (blind/ non-English speaking / deaf (one deaf juror has sat – if no interpreter required)
Excused = people actively serving in the armed forces and people who have sat on a jury within the last 2 years.
Discretional excusal = the judge will decide if you can defer jury service (up to 2yrs) due to births/ deaths/exams..
CJA 2003 allowed police, lawyers and judges to sit on a jury if no connection to the case.
Selection = at random by a computer at the Central Summoning Bureau scrolling through the electoral register. 15 people are chosen and then 12 used from those who turn up. It is a legal obligation to serve on a jury.
Vetting = routine police checks made (Mason) and may conduct wider background checks (ABC trial) Challenge to the array = challenging the whole jury because it is unrepresentative and threat of bias. S5 Juries Act 1974 gives this right (Ford)
Challenge for the cause = challenging an individual juror if believe they are disqualified or known to the case.
Roles for Juries
- Around 2% of criminal trials use juries.
- Sit as a panel of 12 in Crown Court.
- They hear indictable or serious T-E-W offences where the ‘d’ has pleaded not guilty.
- They hear all the evidence and decide the facts of a case whilst the judge directs them on points of law.
- They are independent and free of pressure from the judge. Bushell’s case
- A jury can be directed to acquit a defendant at the end of the prosecution case if the judge decides that there is no case to answer. (Directed acquittal).
- At the end of the case, the jury retire to a private room where they decide guilt or innocence of the ‘D’ in secret. Reach a unanimous or majority verdict of 11-1 or 10-2 after at least 2 hours of deliberations.
- The foreman of the jury reads out the verdict in the court room.
Evaluation of Juries
+ Public confidence – the right to be tried by one’s peers is a basic of a democratic society. Lord Devlin – ‘juries are the lamp that show freedom lives.’ They are not likely to be prosecution biased as legal professionals may be; it is fairer.
+ Jury equity – make decisions based on fairness rather than on precedent. Can make the system fairer – Pontings case + Open system of justice – not closed to legal profession. Keeps it fair and less biased / less open to abuse.
+ Impartial – random section means more impartial and no one connected to the case.
Perverse decisions – to make a decision against the evidence in order to reach a ‘fair’ outcome. Justice is not being done. Randle & Pottle – jury acquitted a spy, despite evidence against him, perhaps because 25 yrs gap since offence.
- Internet searching – may look up case on internet if high profile, which creates bias. S71 CJCA 2015 make it an offence for juror to search internet, s72 CJCA 2015 makes it an offence to disclose searched info (2yrs max prison sentence).
- Secrecy of the jury room – no way to know if decision made for the right reasons, or if jury racist/ bias, Mirza.
- Media coverage – may influence jurors, articles and crime scene pictures can create false bias, Taylor & Taylor.
