Selection/Appointment of Lay Magistrates Model Answer

• A Lay Magistrate (also known as a Justice of the Peace) is a Lay person who is unqualified and voluntarily deals with summary and triable-either-way cases in the Magistrates Court. To become a Lay Magistrate there are no formal requirements that are needed but some basic conditions must be met; they must be 18-74 years old (retire at 75), live in the local area although the strict requirement to live within 15 miles of the court was abolished by the Courts Act 2003 and applicants must be available to sit a minimum of 26 half days a year. It is not essential for them to be a British National but if not then they must swear their allegiance to the King.
• There are some limitations and an applicant would not be able to become a Lay Magistrate if they have any serious criminal convictions or are declared bankrupt. They also need to ensure that their work is not incompatible with being a magistrate e.g. police officers and they cannot be a member of the armed forces. An applicant cannot apply to the same court bench as a close family member. The current procedures for selection and appointment are set out in the Justices of the Peace Act 1979.
• The selection process consists of a number of stages a candidate must go through before they are appointed. Once vacancies become available, adverts will be placed in shop windows, on buses, in newspapers and broadcast on radio stations so that people are aware of the vacancy. The Local Advisory Committee (LAC) will also advertise it via the Gov.uk website to try to encourage a wide range of suitable candidates, so the Magistrates represent all aspects of society. It is then up to the potential candidates to check if they meet the eligibility criteria. They must consider whether they have the formal requirements, in addition to the six key qualities set out by the Lord Chancellor (Good Character, understanding and communication, social awareness, maturity and sound temperament, sound judgement, commitment and reliability) and they are not disqualified for any reason.
• An application form will need to be completed which are available from the Ministry of Justice website and must be completed with 3 referees and returned on-line. The relevant Local Advisory Committee will review and short list potential prospective Magistrates. These LACs are made up of no more than 12 members and should be a combination of Magistrates and Non-Magistrates who will retire in rotation every three years.
• After this stage, appointment can take 6-12 months.
• Two interviews are then held. The first assesses the candidate’s general character and focuses on the 6 key qualities They will also be asked questions about criminal justice e.g. youth crime etc to find out about their attitudes on these issues. The second interview is to assess if they have judicial skills and practical abilities as a magistrate. The candidate will be required to review at least two case studies and take part in a discussion around the case in question, e.g. sentencing of the offender. The case studies will be typical of the types of cases they will be dealing with, if they are appointed. At this point background checks are also done to check for conflicts of interest.
• Once interviews are over, under the Crime & Courts Act 2013, the LAC makes recommendations to the Lord Chief Justice (currently Dame Sue Carr) on who should be appointed. Around 1500 new lay Magistrates are appointed each year. Successful candidates are informed of their appointment within 10 days of the final interview. Broadly equal numbers of men and women and a spread of occupation, ethnic origin and age are required.