Citizen law and responsibliltiy revision

• Special constable


  A volunteer who works with the police
• Besnik's experience as a special constable


  • Spoke to a group of young people during the London riots and convinced them to go home without damaging property
• Once they have completed their training, special constables have the same power and uniform as police constables
• Lay participation


  When citizens take a role in the running of the legal system, which may be voluntary, compulsory, paid or unpaid
• Becoming a magistrate


  1. No legal qualifications required

  2. Personal qualities preferred over legal qualifications

  3. Role is to listen to cases and make clear judgements

  4. Motivation is to increase own skills and give back to community
• Tribunal


  Specialist courts dedicated to specific areas of law that hear more cases than any other part of the criminal justice system
• Tribunal members


  • Experts in the field such as doctors, accountants or surveyors who give up their time to help assess tribunal hearings in their areas of expertise
• Tribunals exceed 1 million cases annually
• Cases heard by tribunals may be on workplace disputes, licensing of gang members, and criminal injuries compensation
• A judge heads the tribunal, and sits with people who are experts in the field
• Questions about tribunals


  • What is a tribunal?
  • Take notes on at least two recent employment tribunal headlines
  • What is the role of a tribunal member?
  • What do you think motivates someone to work on a tribunal?
• Jury duty


  When you are judged to be guilty or not guilty by a group of your peers selected at random
• Jury duty recall questions


  • What is jury duty?
  • Who can be called up to be a juror?
  • What is the role of the lead juror?
  • How many people are part of a jury?
  • How long is the average jury duty case?
  • In what scenario/s are you able to decline to be on a jury?
  • What cases do and do not have juries?
• Anyone over the age of 18 who does not have a criminal conviction can be called up to be a juror
• The role of the lead juror is delivering the guilty or not guilty verdict to the court
• A jury has twelve people
• The average jury duty case lasts 10 working days
• Scenarios where you can decline jury duty

  • You have a holiday already booked
  • You are a registered medical professional/ in the armed forces
  • For personal health reasons
  • You have an exam
• Crown court cases have juries, but magistrates and youth courts do not
• Rights when arrested


  • To be told why you have been arrested
  • To plead the fifth as you do not wish to incriminate yourself or others
  • To be given the opportunity to tell someone about your arrest
  • To access free legal advice from a solicitor
  • To give an explanation to the officer to take you home
  • To seek medical help if you become unwell
  • To have a visitor come to the police station
  • To see a written notice about your rights- eg, to use the toilet