lay magistrates

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Created by
millie

Cards (11)

  • lay magistrates are unpaid, part time judges who have no legal qualifications
  • lay magistrates sit on a bench of 2 or 3 but if sit alone then they have limited powers
  • a lay magistrates can issue search warrants, warrants for arrest and conduct early administrative hearings
  • candidates to be a lay magistrates should have
    1. good character
    2. understanding and communication
    3. social awareness
    4. maturity and sound temperament
    5. sound judgement
    6. commitment and reliability
  • qualifications of a lay mag
    must have certian judicial qualitiies
    they need to work as a team and take into account the reasoning of others
    must be between 18-74 when appointed
    can sit until 75
    not many younger people are appointed
  • cases are heard in the area where
    • the offence was alleged to been committed
    • the person charged with the offence lives
  • lay magistrates must be prepared to commit to at least 26 half days each year - this deters many people
  • a person cannot be appointed as a lay magistrate if
    • have serious criminal conviction
    • members of the force
    • hearing is impaired
    • cannot carry out all the duties due to illness
    • close relatives not appointed to the same bench
  • selection and appointment - about 700 new lay mags are appointed each year
    they are appointed by the lord chief justice who can delegate powers
    when deciding who to appoint the judge relies on recommendations made by local advisory bodies
  • there are two interviews to be a lay mags
    1. characteristics - check if they have the 6 key qualities
    2. practical - given case studies to see how they would deal with it to check their skills - background checks are completed to check for conflict of interests
  • role of the magistrates
    • wide workload connected to criminal cases
    • deal with all summary and some TEW where the D chooses to be tried in the mags court
    • can imprison offender for 6 months for 1 offence or 12 months for 2 offences
    • can make community orders, issue fines and disqualify D from driving