Advantages and Disadvantages of Magistrates

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  • Created by: J3s5
  • Created on: 18-04-23 11:12

Advantages and Disadvantages of Magistrates

Advantages

  • Gender balances (54% women) so in that respect is good cross section of society
  • Cost remains low and cases are dealt with relatively quickly
  • There are few appeals from the magistrates court, suggesting that they're doing the job correctly and sufficiently
  • lay participation is an ancient and democratic factor of society and has been successfully used for hundreds of years.
  • Come from locally so have good local knowledge of the area, standards, expectations, character and types of people.
  • some training is given for example to sit in youth cases, as well as magistrates being assisted by a legally qualified clerk, therefore have some legal background knowledge to assist in decision

Disadvantages

  • Still few magistrates from BAME backgrounds (only 12%) - limits usefulness as not a good cross section of society
  • The time commitment and that fact that they are unpaid means younger and less wealthy individuals are put off of magistracy, therefore majority of magistrates are middle aged, wealthy people
  • 'middle aged, middle class, middle minded' - makes them out of touch with majority of defendants.
  • magistrates are case hardened and unsympathetic therefore may not be kind to victims/question their validity and integrity.
  • there are inconsistencies with offending and in some cases, the outcome can completely depend on where you are - geographical lottery.

Evaluation

overall, many different advantages and disadvantages to consider. however, continued use/little questioning of magistrates suggests they are trusted in society and that there are more ADVANTAGES.

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