Magistrates

Magistrates are lay workers who are voluntary ‘judges’ in the magistrate’s court. They hear cases
that are minor criminal offences such as petty theft and small criminal damages.

Formal requirements

There are no formal legal requirements necessary to be a magistrates but there are personal
requirements necessary. The candidate must…

-Be aged 18 to 65

-Live or work near the Local Justice Area

-Be prepared to commit 26 half days a year

Disqualifications

The Lord Chancellor for the Secretary of State for justice will not appoint anyone who meet the
following criteria…

-Those with previous custodial convictions or minor offences

-Undercharged

-bankruptcy issues

-A serving police officer

-Traffic wardens

-Full timed armed forces workers

-Any one whose community activity is incompatible with the duties of a magistrate

Qualities

If the person fulfils the requirements there are six qualities that the candidate must possess have.

The qualities were set by the Lord Chancellor in 1998 and are:

-Maturity and a sound temperament

-Commitments and reliability

-Good character

-Understanding and communication skills

-Social awareness

-Sound judgement

Selection and Appointment of Magistrates

A person must apply directly for the position of Lay Magistrate or must apply as a result of an
advertisement in the press for the position. The application is made to the Legal Advisory
Committee which is made up of existing Magistrates and other locals. If the candidate’s
application is accepted they are given two interviews.

Interview One- The candidates needs to have the minimum eligibility requirements. There will
also be general questions asked to assess the candidates attitude to various criminal justice issues
such as drink driving or minor criminal damage.

Interview Two-This interview is more practically based as it has scenarios that can come up as
possible cases in the Magistrates court. The candidate will be asked to rank the cases in order of
severity and give them a potential sentence. If the candidate successfully completes both
interviews, and is deemed suitable, then the LAC will submit the names to the Lord Chief Justice
for approval. They will then be submitted to the Lord Chancellor to make the appointment. The
new Magistrates swear their allegiance to the Queen.

Training
The training of a new magistrate is supervised by the Judicial College. The Court Act 2003
places a statutory obligation on the Lord Chancellor to provide all training and training materials
for the training of magistrates.

The Magistrates New Training Initiative (MNTI 2) provides a competence framework which is
divided into four areas of competency, the areas are…

-Self management

-Working in a team

-Making judicial decisions

-Managing judicial decisions (exclusively for the chair of the bench)

First Year training

There are five training stages that a trainee must complete in their first year of training.
Initial training-Before sitting in court the new magistrate is given introductory training.
Mentoring- Six formal mentored sitting in the first 12 month.Core training- Where the new
magistrate must visit penal institutions and undertake observations Consolidation training- This
is at the end of the first year to build on the learning from the above trainingFirst appraisal- This
takes place around 18 months after appointment and the mentor and magistrate must agree they
are ready.

Extra training will be provided for those who fail to show their adequacy for the job. If they
continue to not achieve the competencies then the LAC will advise the Lord Chancellor to
remove the magistrate from sitting.

Retirement and removal

Magistrates retire at 70 years old however, their names are added to the Supplementary List
which means they can no longer sit in the Court but they can continue with some administrative
duties. Under section 11 of the Courts Act 2003, the Lord Chancellor can remove any lay
magistrate is they fail to meet competency standards persistently. A magistrate can also be
removed for misbehaviour.

Work and Role

Criminal Jurisdiction

The Magistrate’s courts try 97% of all criminal cases heard from start to finish and they hear all
100% at least at the preliminary hearing. The Magistrates deal with all summary offences, and
they find the defendant guilty or not guilty. In triable either way cases the magistrates will
undertake a plea before venue procedure. If the defendant pleads guilty the magistrates sentence
them, if the defendant pleads not guilty they will be put through a mode of trial hearing. During
this the Magistrates will decide whether or not they have sufficient jurisdiction to deal with the
issue, if they do not have jurisdiction the trial will be moved to Crown court.
Magistrates also sit with the judge in a crown court to hear appeals from the Magistrates court
and deal with youth offenders in the Magistrates Youth court.

Civil Jurisdiction

Specially trained panels of Magistrates sit in the family court to hear cases including orders for
protection against violence, affiliation cases, adoption orders and proceedings under the Children
Act 1989.
Civil Magistrates also enforce debts owed to the utilities for example gas and electricity. They
also deal with the non-payment of council tax and TV licenses.
Who else is in the Magistrates court?

There are two other members of the legal system who sit in the Magistrates court, district judges
and the magistrate’s clerk.

District Judges- The district judges in Magistrates courts are members of the judiciary who hear
cases in Magistrates courts. They are usually appointed to courts in big cities such as Sheffield.
The District judge will have been a qualified barrister or solicitor for at least five years.
Magistrates Clerk- As the magistrates are not legally qualified they need assistance from a
qualified clerk. The clerk will have been a barrister or solicitor for minimum five years. The
clerks duty is to advise the magistrates on points of law and procedure.

Evaluating Magistrates

Advantages
-Cheaper than hiring professional judges as it is voluntary work
-The magistrates show a cross section of society
-Magistrates have local knowledge of their area
-There are few appeals against the magistrates decision which indicates they make few if any
errors.

Disadvantages
-The magistrates have a tendency to side with the prosecution services in court and therefore
-may be biased towards the prosecution
-The magistrates also have an over reliance on the clerk meaning the decision may not be their
own decision
-There is an inconsistency in magistrates sentencing, often magistrates across the country set
different sentences for the same or similar crimes.
-The majority of magistrates are middle aged, middle class citizens meaning that they do not
necessarily show a cross section of societ