The Role And Appointment Of Lay Magistrates Essay example essay topic

Describe the role and appointment of Lay Magistrates. Discuss the use of ordinary members of the public within the Magistrates Courts. Lay magistrates otherwise known as lay justices or Justices of the Peace (JP's) are ordinary, non-legally qualified people who volunteer to sit and hear cases in the Magistrates Courts. These are local courts that have a geographical limit on their jurisdiction. Lay magistrates are not paid for carrying out their duties, but may claim allowances for travelling, subsistence and financial loss.

Each magistrate, whilst only working part-time, is expected to undertake a fair share of the work of the Bench and is required to sit for at least 26 half days each year. They should try to be available to sit for up to 35 half days and up to a whole day if necessary. Lay magistrates usually exercise their duties as a panel of at least 2 magistrates up to a maximum of 7 and more normally a panel of three. Collectively they are known as "the Bench" and are addressed as "Your Worships". A single lay magistrate has very limited powers but is expected to deal with requests for warrants for arrest and search for example. Lay magistrates at all times have available to them the advice of a professionally qualified court clerk to guide them on questions of law, practice and procedure.

Lay magistrates have wide powers over criminal cases (over 95% of all criminal cases are dealt with by magistrates either in the Adult Court or Youth Court). Their duties are as follows: a. They have jurisdiction to try all summary only offences (i.e. least serious crimes such as nearly all driving offences, taking a vehicle without consent and being found drunk in a public place) and sentence those who are guilty: the maximum sentence is 6 months' imprisonment and a maximum fine of lb 5000 from the Adult Court and 2 years' detention from the Youth Court. b. They deal with mode of trial hearings for all triable either way offences (i.e. middle-range crimes such as theft and assault causing actual bodily harm) and try those which it is decided should be dealt with in the Magistrates' Court. c.

Lay magistrates also deal with the first hearing or preliminary matters of all indictable offences that are going to be tried at the Crown Court and hear applications for bail from the defendant. d. Specially trained lay magistrates sit in the Youth Court to hear cases where those aged 10-17 inclusive are charged with crimes. e. Lay magistrates may sit in the Crown Court alongside a professionally qualified judge to hear appeals against conviction and / or sentence made in the Magistrates Court. Lay magistrates also have civil jurisdiction over licensing, enforcing council tax demands and debts owed to the gas, electric and water authorities, family cases and proceedings concerning children under the Children Act 1989. Lay magistrates in England and Wales are appointed by The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and the Lord Chancellor (or in Lancashire by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster) on behalf and in the name of the Queen.

The Lord Chancellor relies on recommendations made to him by 90 local advisory committees. Local groups such as political parties, trade unions and chambers of commerce will put forward suitable candidates but, in addition, the advisory committees can advertise for individuals in the local community to put themselves forward. The advisory committee must also consider the composition of the local bench in terms of gender, ethnic origin, occupation and political views; the aim being to keep as good a balance of different types of people as possible and create a panel that is representative of all sections of society. In 1998 the Lord Chancellor set out 6 key qualities which those applying to be lay magistrates should possess: good character, understanding and communication, social awareness, maturity and sound temperament, sound judgement and commitment and reliability. On appointment a person must be between 21 and 65 years of age (can sit to age 70), must live within 15 miles of the Commission area, have a reasonable degree of knowledge of the area and have lived there for at least 12 months.

Those people with a criminal conviction, undischarged bankrupts, members of the armed forces, police officers and traffic wardens are not eligible. A major criticism of the system of lay magistrates is that there is not a balanced cross-section of society despite all the efforts of getting a good mix of people and there is still a feeling that lay magistrates are "middle-class, middle-aged and middle-minded". However statistics show that women are now well represented making up almost half of all lay magistrates. Ethnic minorities are better represented with 6.7% of lay magistrates being from an ethnic minority background.

More recently there has been an effort to recruit disabled persons to the bench and to encourage more young people to become involved in the judicial process. Nevertheless, a more socially representative lay magistracy is still elusive. The middle classes are still over-represented. There is inadequate compensation for 'working-class' peoples' loss of earnings and it is often difficult for them to take so much time off work. However the system involves local members of the community with local knowledge and provides a wider cross-section of society than would be possible if only professional judges were used.

In addition, having 3 lay magistrates on the bench gives a balanced view. There is a much higher conviction rate in the Magistrates' Court (80%) than in the Crown Court (35%). This leads to allegations of bias in favour of the police and prosecution, partly due to lay magistrates' class background and partly because they are likely to see the same police officers giving evidence often. However there are few successful appeals (less than 1%) which suggests that the system is working satisfactorily and that lay magistrates are very effective. Since lay magistrates are not legally qualified they may lack legal knowledge and as such may rely too heavily on the clerk. However in 1998 the Lay Magistrates New Training Initiative started in which lay magistrates have to achieve 4 basic competencies, have a mentor (an experienced magistrate) to help them and undergo appraisal.

This means that the system of lay magistrates is not as amateur as it used to be and it has noticeably improved the quality of the bench. There is some inconsistency in sentencing and granting bail otherwise known as "postcode justice". For example, only one in 5 people arrested in Teesside for burglary face immediate custody compared with 2 in 5 of their criminal peers in the Midlands. Even so, such statistical anomalies may be seen as local justice in action as there will always be some regional variations. As lay magistrates are only paid expenses it is much cheaper to have the system of magistrates than to use professional judges or have a hearing in the Crown Court. In general, cases are dealt with much more quickly in the Magistrates' Courts than at the Crown Court.

In summary, Magistrates' courts generally attract less attention than trial by jury in the Crown Court. Nevertheless, as over 95% of criminal cases in England and Wales are dealt with by the Magistrates' courts, they perform a valuable service to the community and their role and the quality of justice in their courts is pivotal to the criminal justice system as a whole. The system of using ordinary, unqualified local people as lay magistrates has come in for some fierce criticism. However in December 2000 the Sir Robin Auld's Review of the criminal justice system came out firmly in favour of lay magistrates and in November 2003 Government ministers launched a new lb 4 m recruitment drive to double the number of lay magistrates appointed each year. As the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer commented "lay magistrates are the cornerstone of our justice system" and their profile is set to be raised further over the coming months by a high-profile media campaign.

For the foreseeable future at least lay magistrates remain the most integral and cost-effective part of our criminal justice system.