Magistrates

Question 1

What are Lay Magistrates?

Answer 1

Unpaid, part-time judges who have no professional legal qualifications

Question 2

What are the characteristics of lay magistrates?

Answer 2

• Non-legally qualified
• Sit as part of a bench of 2 or 3, if their is a single magistrate, their powers are limited
• Aged between 18-65 on appointment but can serve until 70
• Must live and work within their allocated local justice area
• Unpaid apart from expenses
• Must commit to sitting at least 26 and a half days a year.

Question 3

What characteristics prevent a person from becoming a lay magistrate?

Answer 3

• Serious criminal convictions
• Police officers
• Traffic wardens
• Relatives of the 2 above
• Impaired hearing
• Undischarged bankrupts
• Members of the forces
• Close relatives cannot be appointed to the same bench

Question 4

What are 6 key qualities of a lay magistrate?

Answer 4

• Good character
• Understanding and communication
• Social awareness
• Maturity and sound temperament
• Sound judgement
• Commitment and reliability

Question 5

What is the selection and appointment procedure for a magistrate?

Answer 5

• About 700 appointed each year
• Appointments made by the Lord Chief Justice who delegates to a Senior Presiding Judge
• Recommendations are then made by a local advisory committee consisting of a maximum of 12 mag and non-mag members.
• 2-stage interview process: first interview is mostly about the candidate’s personal attributes, the second tests judicial aptitude by looking at individual studies
• Successful candidates have their names submitted by the panel to the Lord Chief Justice who then makes the appointments.

Question 6

What is a Magistrate’s role in Criminal Cases?

Answer 6

• Deals with most of the preliminary work: Early Administrative Hearings, remand hearings and bail applications
• Holds trials where the defendant has pleaded not guilty and sentence when they have pleaded guilty
• Hears summary cases and triable-either-way if the defendant has chosen to be tried in the Magistrates Court.
• Deals with crimes such as: Minor assaults, Motoring Offences, Theft, Handling Stolen Goods
• Can give punishments such as: fines, unpaid community work, prison up to 6 months or 1 year for multiple crimes.
• Decides if defendants in the most serious crimes are kept in custody

Question 7

What is the training procedure to be a magistrate?

Answer 7

• Training is supervised by the Magisterial Committee of the Judicial College and carried out locally
• Takes around 21 hours (3 and a half days)
• The training could take place over: a long weekend, weekdays, short evening sessions over several weeks
• A three-part training syllabus

Question 8

What are the three parts in the magistrates training syllabus?

Answer 8

1. Initial introductory training - the role, responsibility, duty, administration etc.
2. Core training - acquiring and developing the key skills of a competent magistrate.
3. Activities - observations of court sittings, visits to a prison, probation office etc.

Question 9

What is the role of the Magistrate’s Clerk?

Answer 9

• Legal Advisor to the bench
• Senior clerk must be qualified as either a barrister or solicitor for at least 5 years
• Guides the mags on questions of law, practice and procedure
• Is not meant to assist the mags in decision making
• Deals mainly with routine admin, issuing warrants for arrest, extending police bail, adjourning criminal proceedings and dealing with Early Administrative Hearings.

Question 10

What are the advantages of lay magistrates? (Not needed in test)

Answer 10

• Represents a cross-section of society: allows for broader prospectives on law and struggles of woman and different ethnicities
• Local Knowledge: local knowledge of problems in the area creates value for awareness over local events, patterns of crime and local opinions.
• Training: Improved training means that magistrates are not complete amateurs - majority of decisions require common sense rather than professional training.
• Cost: The use of magistrates is cheap and the cost of a trial in the Magistrates’ Court is also much cheaper than in the Crown Court
• Legal Advisor: all magistrates’ clerks have to be legally qualified, bringing high levels of skill and knowledge and overcomes the criticism that magistrates themselves are not legally qualified.
• Few Appeals: despite the amateur status of magistrates, there are few instances where an error of law is made and in most years there are only around 5000 successful appeals from about one and half million cases, giving evidence that magistrates do a good job.

Question 11

What are the disadvantages of lay magistrates? (Not needed in test)

Answer 11

• The perception of old magistrates is proved true as their average age is over 50 and often from professional backgrounds
• Inconsistency in sentencing: magistrates in different areas often pass very different sentences for what appear to be very similar offences
• Reliance on the clerk: the lack of qualifications of a magistrate should be overcome due to the clerk but sentences are still inconsistent as they cannot help with sentencing.
• ## Prosecution Bias: magistrates outside of London will see the same CPS prosecutor frequently which may have an effect on the low acquittal rates (compared to Crown Courts), believing the police too readily