Magistrates

Question 1

What did the Justices of the Peace Act 1361 do?

Answer 1

Established the role of the magistrate.

Question 2

What is a magistrate?

Answer 2

Lay people who deal with the criminals and administrative functions in local area.

Question 3

How many magistrates are there?

Answer 3

17,500

Question 4

In % how many criminal cases do they deal with?

Answer 4

95%

Question 5

Do they receive a salary?

Answer 5

No but do receive travel expenses, subsidence and financial loss allowances.

Question 6

What did the The Lord Chancellor, in 1998, say the six key qualities that potential lay magistrates should have were?

Answer 6

Good character; 
Understanding and communication;
Social awareness;
Maturity and sound temperament;
Sound judgment; 
Commitment and reliability.

Question 7

What other quality do they need?

Answer 7

A judicial quality. Assimilate information and make reasoned judgements.

Question 8

What age must a magistrate be?

Answer 8

18-65 upon appointment and can sit till 70.

Question 9

Under the Courts Act 2003 where are they expected to work?

Answer 9

Work or live within or near to the local justice area to which they are allocated.

Question 10

How much do they have to at least commit to?

Answer 10

26 half days a year.

Question 11

Who are not eligible to be a magistrate?

Answer 11

police officers,
relatives of those working in the criminal justice system,
those with criminal convictions,

Question 12

Who makes the appointment of a magistrate and who can they delegate this power to?

Answer 12

Lord Chief Justice.
Senior Presiding Judge

Crime and Courts Act 2013

Question 13

Appointments are made on the advice of which committee?

Answer 13

Local Advisory Committee (LAC).

Question 14

What potential candidates do the LAC put forward?

Answer 14

potential candidates from local political parties, voluntary groups and other organisation and private individual candidates.

Question 15

Who makes up the LAC and who appoints them?

Answer 15

ex-magistrates and current magistrates – committee of up to 12 people.
Appointed by the Minister for Justice.

Question 16

What is put out to attract potential candidates?

Answer 16

Adverts

Question 17

What does the first stage the committee do look at?

Answer 17

The six key qualities and will explore the candidate’s attitudes on various criminal justice issues such as youth crime or drink-driving.

Question 18

What does the second stage the committee do look at?

Answer 18

Aimed at assessing the candidate’s potential and judicial skills.
Scenarios of cases and asking what appropriate sentence they would give.

Question 19

What happens after the interviews? Where are they sworn in?

Answer 19

LAC will submit the names of candidate’s they believe are suitable to the Lord Chief Justice or Senior Presiding Judge as their delegate.
Appointments will be made from the list given by the LAC.
New magistrates are sworn in as a magistrate at a local Magistrates’ Court.

Question 20

What are the magistrates 3 key functions in a criminal case?

Hearing (what applications)?
Trial (what are who advises them)
Appeals (where and with who)?

Answer 20

Hearing applications for bail and funding (preliminary hearings);

Trial – Magistrates mainly try the least serious criminal cases, on advice from the clerk of the court, but decide the facts, law and sentence on their own;

Appeals – Magistrates will hear appeals in the Crown Court, alongside a judge, in relation to appeals against conviction (they also hear appeals from local authorities within the Magistrates’ Court).

Question 21

How do magistrates have some control over investigation of crime?

Answer 21

They deal with requests by the police to extend detention limits and warrants of search and arrest.

Question 22

How many magistrates sit and what is their ‘leader’ called?

Answer 22

benches of three, with one of them being the chairman of the bench, but there are some pre-trial powers which allow a single magistrate to sit on their own.

Question 23

What does S. 49 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 allow?

Answer 23

Make decisions on extending or varying conditions of bail, give directions on the timetable for proceedings and to send an offender to another court for sentence.

Question 24

Who sits in the Youth Court panel, what do they do and what is the gender requirement?

Answer 24

Specially nominated and trained magistrates from the Youth Court panel hear criminal charges against young offenders aged 10 to 17 years old.
The panel must consist of at least one man and one woman.