Magistrates - Section B

Question 1

What are Lay Magistrates?

Answer 1

Lay magistrates are volunteers who are not legally qualified. They sit in benches of three in Magistrates Court and make up 85% of the judicial community.

Question 2

What are Magistrates otherwise referred to as?

Answer 2

They are also sometimes referred to as Justice of the Peace.

Question 3

Do Magistrates receive a salary?

Answer 3

No, they do not receive a salary, but will receive expenses such as travel, subsistence, and loss of earnings allowance.

Question 4

How much time are Magistrates required to sacrifice per annum?

Answer 4

They are required to sit a minimum of 26 half day sittings, or 13 days per year.

Question 5

What assists Magistrates to reach a decision regarding sentencing?

Answer 5

Magistrates use Sentencing Guidelines and case law to assist them to reach decisions about sentencing.

Question 6

Where are Magistrates assigned to and under what legislation?

Answer 6

Once appointed, a magistrate is assigned to a Local Justice Area, which is near to their work or home, but they do have national jurisdiction under the Courts Act 2003.

Question 7

What percentage of criminal cases to Magistrates sit on and what type offence?

Answer 7

Magistrates hear 95% of all criminal cases, and they usually try summary offences.

Question 8

What do Magistrates have to do?

Answer 8

Magistrates have to decide whether someone is guilty or innocent, whether a defendant should be allowed to have bail and the appropriate sentence when defendants either pleads or are found guilty.

Question 9

What can Magistrates do if a longer sentence is required?

Answer 9

They can refer the case to Crown Court if a longer prison sentence is required.

Question 10

What power do Magistrates have and under what legislation?

Answer 10

Magistrates have the power to impose a prison sentence of up to six months, and since s85 Legal Aid, Sentencing, and Punishment for Offenders Act 2012 can impose an unlimited fine in certain circumstances.

Question 11

Do all criminal cases start in Magistrates Court?

Answer 11

Yes, all criminal cases begin in the Magistrates Court, even if only for them to pass the case to Crown Court.

Question 12

Magistrates will hear what civil and family cases?

Answer 12

Unpaid council tax
TV License evasion
Child custody and adoption
Care orders for children.

Only experienced magistrates who have received special training can hear family cases and cases in the Youth Court.

Question 13

What qualities where set out by who and when for Magistrates?

Answer 13

In 1998, the Lord Chancellor set out six key qualities that a Magistrate should possess:

Good character;
Understanding and communication;
Social awareness;
Maturity and sound temperament;
Sound judgement;
and commitment and reliability.

Question 14

What are the requirements for a Magistrate?

Answer 14

Must be:
Aged between 18-65, although retire by 70;
Not possess any serious criminal convictions;
Not have been prohibited from driving in the past 5-10 years;
Not have been declared bankrupt;
Not work in a job where there may be a conflict of interest, such as a police officer.

Question 15

How are Magistrates called upon?

Answer 15

Candidates usually apply to become a magistrate either in response to advertisements, or directly to the secretary of a local advisor, or directly to the secretary of a local Advisory Committee.

Question 16

What follows?

Answer 16

There follows at least two interviews before the local Advisory Committee who will be comprised of a maximum of twelve members and a mixture of current and retired magistrates as well as non-magistrates.

Question 17

Where are advertisements placed?

Answer 17

Advertisements may be placed in local papers, community noticeboards, on local radio, and on some county buses. Recent recruitment initiatives have attempted to attract potential magistrates in order to make them as representative of society as possible.

Question 18

Magistrates continue their training throughout their magisterial career:

What are appraisals?

Answer 18

Appraisals take place every three years to ensure the magistrate maintains their competency in whichever court they sit.

Question 19

What is continuation?

Answer 19

Continuation training takes place once every three years, usually before appraisals.

Question 20

What is update training?

Answer 20

Update training on new legislation and procedures is delivered to magistrates as required.

Question 21

What is threshold training?

Answer 21

Threshold training accompanies each development in a magistrates’ role, there is a matching training process. For instances may go through comprehensive training to become a chairman or presiding justice. Alternatively, they may choose to undergo training in the specialist skills needed for family or youth courts.

Question 22

Under retirement and dismissal what age can magistrates retire?

Answer 22

Magistrates usually retire at the age of 70.

Question 23

Under what legislation can who remove a lay magistrate from office?

Answer 23

S11 of the Courts Act 2003 provides that the Lord Chief Justice can remove a lay magistrate from the office under the grounds of incapability or misbehaviour;
On the grounds of a persistent failure to meet such standards of competence as prescribed by a direction given by the Lord Chief Justice;
If they are satisfied that the lay justice is declining or neglecting to take a proper part in the exercise of their functions as a justice of the peace;
Complaints about the magistrates are made to the Judicial Conduct Investigation Office.

Question 24

What is the Justice’s Clerk and what do they do?

Answer 24

Every Bench of magistrates is assisted by a clerk, or a legal adviser;

Every justices’ clerk has to be qualified as a solicitor or barrister for at least five years;

Their role is to advise the magistrates on issues of law and procedure in the magistrates court; this is set out in s28 Courts Act 2003;

The Clerk is not permitted to assist the magistrates in their decision making.

R v Eccles Justice ex parte Farrelly 1992, convictions were quashed on appeal due to the clerk having helped in the decision making process.

Question 25

List the advantages Magistrates hold.

Answer 25

Magistrates will provide a better representations of society than a professional judges;

Magistrates will normally live or work within the area in which they sit;

The use of lay magistrates is cheap as they only have to be reimbursed for their expenses and subsistence. The trial itself in a Magistrates Court is also cheaper than in a Crown Court;

The availability of a justices clerk is also seen as an advantage as there is constant access to advice on points of law and procedure;

There are very few appeals from the Magistrates Court, suggesting that they are doing an adequate job.

Question 26

List the disadvantages Magistrates hold.

Answer 26

There are areas of society which are very under represented - for example, lots of magistrates are from middle class backgrounds or hold managerial occupations;

Over the last few years, Magistrates’ Courts have been closing which can cause problems of access for some people are we are therefore increasingly losing the ‘local knowledge’ aspect;

Although lay magistrates are more representative than professional judges, the magistracy is often criticised for being ‘middle aged, middle class, and middle minded’;

There is often a low acquittal rate in the Magistrates Court which does suggest that there may be some prosecution bias;

Although training is undertaken from a national perspective, there is often seen to be inconsistency in sentencing across different areas.
Magistrates are often criticised for relying too heavily on the justices’ clerk.

Question 27

Lay Magistrates Training

Answer 27

Delivered by the justices’ clerk who is guided by national syllabus produced by the Judicial College.

Training is based upon competence and usually assessed through observations.

Question 28

What is initial training?

Answer 28

This is where the magistrate will learn the basics of the role and will observe the other magistrates.

Question 29

What is mentoring?

Answer 29

Each new magistrate will have a specifically trained mentor allocated and they should have six formal mentored settings within the first 18 months and keep a personal development log.

Question 30

What is core training?

Answer 30

This involves visits to penal institutions and working through a core workbook for self study to equip them with key knowledge.

Question 31

What is consolidation training?

Answer 31

This happens at the end of the first year and builds on sittings to prepare magistrates for their first appraisal.

Question 32

What is the first appraisal?

Answer 32

The mentor and magistrate will agree after 12-18 months that the new magistrate now demonstrates the competence in the role.