Lay magistrates There are two types of magistrates; lay magistrates and stipendiary magistrates. Lay magistrates are also known as æLay JusticesÆ or æJustices of the PeaceÆ (JPs). Lay Magistrates are the more common type of magistrates. There are over 60,000 lay magistrates in England and Wales. Lay Magistrates are considered to be very important as 97% of court cases begin and end in MagistratesÆ Courts. A Lord Chancellor, who recently reiterated the importance of Magistrates, said, "To sit as a lay justice is to accept a major civic responsibility and I regard the maintenance of high morale within the lay magistracy as an important policy objective". For this reason it is imperative that the selection of lay magistrates be carried with the utmost care. In order to become a lay magistrate, there are number of criteria that need to be fulfilled. The first criterion which lay magistrates are required to meet is that they must be between the ages of 21 and 60 (although plans to extend this margin to 65 years are being put forward by some Lord Chancellors, in order to gain a further pool of talent) - Jacqueline Martin, GCSE Law. In addition, another requirement is the fact that they need to be within 15miles of the area to which they are commissioned and they would have had to live there for a period exceeding 12 months. People who are qualified in law, ex-police officers or undischarged bankrupts are ineligible to become lay magistrates. This rule also applies to those who have been convicted of
serious offences. In addition, relatives of those who fall into the categories stated previously would also be ineligible to become lay magistrates. Provisional magistrates-to-be need to have a respected status in society. They also need to have a satisfactory state of health. This would include good sight and hearing. They also need the patience and ability to concentrate for long periods of time. Additional conditions have to be met and the examining body looks at the personal qualities of candidates. It is imperative that lay magistrates-to-be have good character and standing in the local community. They must possess personal integrity. ...
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serious offences. In addition, relatives of those who fall into the categories stated previously would also be ineligible to become lay magistrates. Provisional magistrates-to-be need to have a respected status in society. They also need to have a satisfactory state of health. This would include good sight and hearing. They also need the patience and ability to concentrate for long periods of time. Additional conditions have to be met and the examining body looks at the personal qualities of candidates. It is imperative that lay magistrates-to-be have good character and standing in the local community. They must possess personal integrity. They need the ability to understand and interpret documents, to identify and comprehend relevant facts. Magistrates have to be able to follow an argument and assess its strengths and weaknesses, and be able to arrive evaluation and conclusion. There is also the aspect of social awareness, which is the appreciation of law, understanding the community and respect for people of all races and cultures. This means they need to have a mature outlook and a cool temperament, both in and out of court. The fact that magistrates are required to pass sentence at the end of court trials, means they need to be firm, decisive and confident. The future of someoneÆs life depends on the sentence; therefore the magistrate needs to exercise common sense, an open mind and the ability to think logically. Any candidate for lay magistracy must have a commitment to sit for 26 days per year, in addition to undergoing training. This highlights the need for reliability as well as commitment. Approximately 2000 magistrates are appointed every year. The Lord Chancellor carries out the final selection of candidates. There are three organizational units pertaining to magistrates; these are MagistratesÆ Courts Committee (MCC) area, the Commission Area and the Petty Sessions area. There are currently 84 MCCs in England and Wales. Each MCC consists of 12 members. They usually consist of magistrates who undertake the MCC task as an extended part of their magisterial duties. They are appointed onto the MCC on the basis of their skills and experience. Today the efficiency of lay magistrates has been bought into question. This is because they are all considered unqualified for the job. Also about 84% of Lay Magistrates are from the middle-classes and are therefore are referred as æmiddle-class, middle-aged and middle-mindedÆ This does not seem to stand out as a major problem as there is still a percentage of lay magistrates representing other social classes. It sometimes poses a problem because magistrates from the middle-class tend not to fully understand the problems faced by people from the lower working class. Part of the reason that the ratio between middle-class magistrates and magistrates from the æworkingÆ class is so unbalanced is that those from the working class have difficulty in negotiating with their employers for time off, for training and for sitting in court sessions. The Times dated 29th August states that in Leeds nowadays, advertisements are being put up in work places and broadcast on the Leeds Radio in order to attract more working class people into the magistracy. Another factor could be that there is no remuneration and the working class cannot afford this, as serving would leave them out of pocket. Magistrates rely heavily on the sound opinion and help of the justicesÆ clerks. JusticesÆ clerks are legally qualified and can exercise certain powers, which magistrates have. They are particular statutes, which confer some of these powers to them, whilst some are delegated to them by rules under the Justice Peace Act 1997. These arrangements have been called into question and plans have now been put forward to ensure more training is available to new magistrates. This demonstrates the attempt to improve the quality of lay magistrates, which is an advantage. A reference to the case R v Birmingham Magistrates ex p Ahmed {1995}, highlights the problems that some lay magistrates face in courts. This was where the clerk retired with the magistrates when they went to make the decision, without being invited. This created the suspicion that he was taking part in deciding the verdict. The most obvious advantage is the fact that magistrates work on a voluntary basis and the government only pays supplementary costs. According to an article in the Daily Mail on February 5th 2001 magistrates should wear respectable clothing and this code of dress should not be biased against any sex or race. Lord Irvine supports this and said, æWe recommend that any dress code should be rigorously checked for cultural biasàÆ Lay Magistrates are best suited for local courts, because they know more about their local area, so their views could be more conclusive. A point however, that they should emulate from Crown Court cases, is more open-mindedness, because the conviction rate in Magistrate Courts is very high, whereas in Crown Courts the figure is more evenly balanced, with the conviction rate being about 55%. This however, is somewhat biased, as crown court cases are more serious and not many cases move on from magistratesÆ courts. On the other hand, magistratesÆ courts deal with smaller incidents and magistrates have a more æconviction-mindedÆ attitude. According to A-Level General Principles of English Law, Magistrates Courts are faster in finishing cases as opposed to Crown Courts, which may take up to several months. Magistrates are trying to improve; for instance they try to regularly go to Crown Court cases, to learn and experience the procedure in court hearings. Finally, it has been calculated that it would cost the government ú100 million to replace all the lay magistrates by fully qualified stipendiary magistrates. At the moment the government are making a profit of ú30 million by using Lay Magistrates. In conclusion I think that magistrates are very useful and they are good for the criminal justice system. They hear minor cases and stream other more complicated ones for the Crown Court. Also a magistrates court has a less intimidating atmosphere for youths. However, the negative aspect stems from the fact that lay magistrates are not qualified. However, in other aspects they are useful, by saving the government money as they have a more comprehensive view of the area in which they are commissioned.
