2.5
MAGISTRATES
- Magistrates are unpaid volunteers’ part of the community, who sit in on trials for
minor offences.
- To be able to be a magistrate, qualifications aren’t mandatory, however, during a
case there is a legal adviser/ clerk that advises them on the law.
- While qualifications aren’t necessary, it is slightly exclusive by the means that you
must be over 18 and under 65 to be able to qualify.
- As the magistrates aren’t legal professionals, all cases start at the Magistrates court
if a case is more serious and they aren’t able to impose a suitable sentence or
conclusion, it gets passed onto the Crown Court where legal professionals get
involved.
- However, they can give people fines, community service and a prison sentence up to
6 months.
- Not everyone can be a magistrate regardless of qualifications and age.
- If you have a criminal record or have been banned from driving withing the last 5 to
10 years, you would not be appointed.
- As well as if you have been declared bankrupt or your job has links to the legal
system such as a police officer or a lawyer.
- There are strengths and weaknesses of having a case initially being dealt at a
Magistrates court.
- As they do not have a salary provided to do this job, they are clearly making
judgments based on what they believe would conclude justice, as if they were
receiving money, it is possible they would give out harsh careless sentences.
- Those who apply and get chosen, sit in their local court.
- This is of great benefit as they know the area well and what general issues in that
area are, again resulting in a fair sentence.
- The fact that magistrates sit in threes, allows for a fairer verdict as there are multiple
opinions giving their input.
- In addition to this, magistrates have different backgrounds to one another, this
increases the chance of a magistrate having sympathy towards a defendant as,
magistrates are regular people too, this also increases the likelihood of a fair
outcome.
- The system the Magistrates court has in place, is an extremely beneficial system in
how it allows the crown court space and time to handle more
- serious offences without overcrowding and overall freeing up spaces for cases that
need to be passed on.
- However 95% of cases stay at the magistrates court.
- However, while they present many strengths, there are also several weaknesses.
- Magistrates are often from a middle aged and middle-class background who want to
make use of their days.
- This could be seen as negative due to the stereotypical and traditional views they
possess.
- It could be argued that sometimes similarly to judges, they make lack some empathy
resulting in harsher punishments.
MAGISTRATES
- Magistrates are unpaid volunteers’ part of the community, who sit in on trials for
minor offences.
- To be able to be a magistrate, qualifications aren’t mandatory, however, during a
case there is a legal adviser/ clerk that advises them on the law.
- While qualifications aren’t necessary, it is slightly exclusive by the means that you
must be over 18 and under 65 to be able to qualify.
- As the magistrates aren’t legal professionals, all cases start at the Magistrates court
if a case is more serious and they aren’t able to impose a suitable sentence or
conclusion, it gets passed onto the Crown Court where legal professionals get
involved.
- However, they can give people fines, community service and a prison sentence up to
6 months.
- Not everyone can be a magistrate regardless of qualifications and age.
- If you have a criminal record or have been banned from driving withing the last 5 to
10 years, you would not be appointed.
- As well as if you have been declared bankrupt or your job has links to the legal
system such as a police officer or a lawyer.
- There are strengths and weaknesses of having a case initially being dealt at a
Magistrates court.
- As they do not have a salary provided to do this job, they are clearly making
judgments based on what they believe would conclude justice, as if they were
receiving money, it is possible they would give out harsh careless sentences.
- Those who apply and get chosen, sit in their local court.
- This is of great benefit as they know the area well and what general issues in that
area are, again resulting in a fair sentence.
- The fact that magistrates sit in threes, allows for a fairer verdict as there are multiple
opinions giving their input.
- In addition to this, magistrates have different backgrounds to one another, this
increases the chance of a magistrate having sympathy towards a defendant as,
magistrates are regular people too, this also increases the likelihood of a fair
outcome.
- The system the Magistrates court has in place, is an extremely beneficial system in
how it allows the crown court space and time to handle more
- serious offences without overcrowding and overall freeing up spaces for cases that
need to be passed on.
- However 95% of cases stay at the magistrates court.
- However, while they present many strengths, there are also several weaknesses.
- Magistrates are often from a middle aged and middle-class background who want to
make use of their days.
- This could be seen as negative due to the stereotypical and traditional views they
possess.
- It could be argued that sometimes similarly to judges, they make lack some empathy
resulting in harsher punishments.
