Describe the selection, training, and role of lay magistrates.

Potential magistrates must go through what one would call ‘checks’ to see if they would be suitable to sit in the position of a magistrate, and fulfil their duties. It is vital that magistrates are appointed carefully since they will hold a great deal of responsibility not only for the courts but for the community as a whole, as they are expected to be respectable and trustworthy citizens.

Therefore a selection process is needed in which the names of potential magistrates can be put forward by people who are interested for themselves or by anyone else who wants to nominate a person. For instance groups like; local political parties, trade unions, and chambers of commerce would hand in names of potential magistrates.

The Lord Chancellor set out six key qualities which candidates are expected to have these were; good character, understanding and communication, social awareness, maturity and sound temperament, sound judgement, and commitment and reliability. Along with these qualities there are formal requirements as to age and residence (magistrates must be between 21 and 65 on appointment). A balance of occupations is also aimed at; advisory committees are recommended they should not have more than 15% of the bench coming from one category. Finally the Advisory Committee will interview candidates and then submit names of those they think are suitable to the Lord Chancellor who will then appoint new magistrates.

After the selection process the training of magistrates will follow which would demonstrate if a person would be able to meet expectations of the role of a magistrate. In 1998 the lay magistrates New Training Initiative started. Under this scheme newly appointed magistrates have to achieve four basic competencies. These are; an applied understanding of the framework within which magistrates operate; an ability to follow basic law and procedure; an ability to think and act judicially; and an ability to work as an effective member of a team. These competencies are extremely important and a magistrate must be able ...

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To check the progress of a new magistrate each is appointed a mentor (an experienced magistrate) who keeps a Personal Development Log on their magistrate. After two years there is an appraisal of the magistrate to see if they have achieved the competencies required. If any magistrate cannot show that they have achieved them, they will then be given extra training. If they still cannot achieve the competencies, then the matter is referred to the local Advisory Committee, who may recommend to the Lord Chancellor that the magistrate is removed from sitting.

Following the training there are specific roles and areas which a magistrate can get into to carry out their duties. They are mainly connected to criminal cases, although they deal with some civil matters (especially family cases). They try 97% of all criminal cases and deal with preliminary hearings in the remaining 3% of criminal cases. This would involve Early Administrative Hearings, remand hearings, bail applications, and committal proceedings. They also deal with civil matters which include the enforcing of debts owed to the utilities (gas, electric, and water), non-payment of the council tax and non payment of television licenses. In addition they have powers to grant licences for the sale of alcohol and for the betting and gaming establishments.

Specially nominates and trained justices form the Youth Court Panel to hear criminal charges against young offenders aged 10 to 17 years old. These magistrates must be under 65 years old. There is also a special panel for the family court to hear family cases including orders for protection against violence, affiliation cases, adoption orders and proceedings under the Children Act 1989.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using lay magistrates in the English Legal System.

Although lay magistrates have important roles, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages of having them.

Firstly improved training means that lay magistrates are not complete ‘amateurs’. The majority of decisions require common sense rather than professional training. However there are criticisms that training is variable in quality and inadequate for the work load. This poor training may be the cause of marked variations in sentencing; for instance 70% of those driving whilst disqualified were jailed in West Derbyshire, but nobody went to prison for such an offence in Cirencester, Gloucester or Humberside.
Also the lack of knowledge of the lay justices should be offset by the fact that a legally qualified clerk is available to give advice. However, this will not prevent inconsistencies in sentencing since the clerk is allowed to help the magistrates decide on a sentence. It can be said that magistrates rely too heavily on their clerk.

Another point is that the system involves members of the community and provides a wider cross-section on the bench than would be possible with the use of professional judges. However as lay magistrates tend to be ‘middles-class, middle-aged and middle-minded’ they are not a true cross-section of the local community, and will have little in common with the young working-class defendants who make up the majority of defendants.
Similarly although magistrates are required to live within 15 miles of the area covered by the commission it is intended that they have local knowledge of particular problems in the area. However, as most magistrates come from professional and managerial classes it is unlikely that they live, or have any real knowledge of the problems in poorer areas.

Another aspect which would certainly be important to discuss is the fact that some say that lay magistrates tend to be prosecution-biased (believe the police too readily). In contrast to this view however the actual evidence shows that there are very few defendants who appeal against the magistrates’ decision and many of the appeals are against sentence and not against the finding of guilty. This would lead one to the conclusion that despite the amateur status of lay magistrates, they do justice to the role given to them.

Finally the use of unpaid lay magistrates is cheap; this is a huge advantage, because the cost of replacing them with paid magistrates has been estimated to cost £100 million a year. The cost of a trial in the Magistrates Court is also much cheaper than in the Crown Court.

Overall the advantages and disadvantages are both important features to look at, once looked at in depth it can be concluded that the number of advantages and disadvantages are equally balanced.

Misbah Hanif