Magistrates advantages and disadvantages

?
What are the advantages?
More representative of society than professional judges
Local knowledge
Cost
Volunteers
1 of 12
How are they more representative than judges?
53% are female as opposed to only 28% of judges being female
10% are of a ethnic minority as oppose to 5% of judges
Less elite than judges
Trial by peers rather than a paid professional
2 of 12
How do they have local knowledge?
They live local to court where they serve
Provide local insight and have knowledge of the area and views of local people
Have an idea of what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in their neighbourhood
Know what crimes are causing concern an awareness
3 of 12
What is the cost of magistrates?
M are volunteers who do not recieve a salary for their role, many are retired the less earnings expenses is lower, they entitled to claim travel expenses and food many do not, cost of magistrates trial per day £900 compared to £3,000 for Crown Court trial
4 of 12
Why is it good that volunteers have experience and training?
Volunteers mean they are willing participants in the justice system unlike jurors who may be reluctant to serve, likely to be focused on task in hand and more experienced jurors would have recieved training to undertake their role, undergo a rigourous sel
5 of 12
Why is it good if there is few appeals from the magistrates court?
Suggest that most defendants are satisfied with the justice dispensed by the magistrates
case stated appeals is even less and normally less than 100 which indicates that it is not often the magistrates make an error of law
6 of 12
What are the disadvantages?
not representative
not likely to come from the areas the defendants come from
training is sparse
inconsistencies in sentencing
prosecution bias
7 of 12
Why are they not representative?
Less representative than jurors in terms of age and social class, 86% are over 50, tend to come from a managerial or professional background, often referred to as middle class middle aged and middle minded
8 of 12
Why is it a disadvantage for them to not coming from the areas that defendants come from?
Whilst the magistrates are local to the courts in which they serve, they are unlikely to live on the estates where the majority of crime is committed or have any real knowledge on the problems in poorer areas
9 of 12
Why is it bad that the training is sparse?
The training process has been criticised for being inadequate to prepare the magistrates for enormous responsibility of their role
The inconsistencies in sentencing may reflect the inadequacy of the training
10 of 12
Why is their inconsistences in sentencing according to Government White Paper Justice for All 2001?
20% of offenders for burglary of dwellings were sent to immediate custody in Teeside whereas 40% were in Birmingham
Custody given 21% of offenders for driving whilst disqualified in Neath whereas 77% were given custody in north Essex
3.5% given custody f
11 of 12
What is prosecution bias?
They are accused of a prosecution bias with a tendency to believe the evidence of the police over that of the defendants
Accusation has some evidential bias in the court consistently has a higher conviction rate with 80% of trail resulting in a guilty ver
12 of 12

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

How are they more representative than judges?

Back

53% are female as opposed to only 28% of judges being female
10% are of a ethnic minority as oppose to 5% of judges
Less elite than judges
Trial by peers rather than a paid professional

Card 3

Front

How do they have local knowledge?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What is the cost of magistrates?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Why is it good that volunteers have experience and training?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Law resources:

See all Law resources »See all Magistrates advantages and disadvantages resources »