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Lay Personnel - Coggle Diagram
Lay Personnel
Juries: used in English legal system for over 1000 years - most important use of juries is in crown court where they decide whether defendant is guilty/not guilty - jury trials account for less than 1% of all criminal trials - 97% of cases are dealt with in magistrates court & about two out of every 3 defendants will plead guilty at crown court - juriy is only used in 20000 cases each year - have 12 members
Split function: trial is presided over by judge and functions are split between judge and jury - judge decides points of law, jury decides the facts - end of prosecution judge has power to direct jury to acquit defendant if in law prosecutions evidence has not made out a case against defendant - directed acquittal. defense will then put its case and call any witnesses - at end of evidence judge will sum up case and direct jury on any law involved - jury will retire and make decision in secret on guilt or innocence of accused - initially they must try to come to unanimous verdict one in which all members agree - judge must accept verdict even if they do not agree - jury doesn't give any reasons for its decision
majority verdicts: if after at least 2 hours/or more if several defendants, jury has not reached verdict the judge can all it back into court room and direct that a majority verdict can be excepted
introduced because of fear of jury nobbling - jurors being bribed/intimidated by associates of defendant into voting not guilty verdict
when a jury had to be unanimous only one member needed to be bribed to cause stalemate (jury unable to reach decision)
also thought that acquittal rates in jury trials were too high and majority decisions would result in more convictions
where jury convicts a defendant - foreman of jury must announce numbers both agreeing and disagreeing with verdict in open court)
qualifications: juries act 1974 sets out qualifications - person must be
- aged between 18-75 inclusive
- registered as parliamentary or local gov elector
- ordinarily resident in UK/channel islands/isle of man for at least 5 years since 13th birthday
- mustnt be mentally disordered
- disqualified from jury service
disqualification: some criminal convictions disqualify a person from jury - disqualified permanently are those who have been sentenced to:
- imprisonment for life/detention for life/custody for life
- detention during HM pleasure/secretary of state
- imprisonment for public protection
- extended sentence
- term of imprisonment/detention for 5 or more years
those in following categories are disqualified for 10 years:
- those who have at any time in last 10 years served sentence of imprisonment/suspended sentence passed on them
- those who have at any time in last 10 years had community order /community sentence
anyone who is on bail in criminal proceedings is disqualified - if disqualified person fails to disclose that fact and turns up for jury service then may be fined up to £5000
eligibility issues:
lack of capacity: judge may discharge person due to lack of capacity - may be because they do not understand english/some disability that makes them unsuitable (blind people) - extra person in jury room is not allowed by law e.g. sign lang interpreter for deaf
discretionary excusals: anyone who has problems which make it difficult to do their jury service may ask to be excused for their period of service till a later date e.g. being too ill to attend, suffering from disability which makes it impossible for person to sit/mother with small baby/dong essential work (doctor/medial staff). sometimes temporary events that would make it difficult e.g. business appointments that cant be done by anyone else/sit exams/holiday booked - court is most likely to defer service to more convenient date rather thank excuse person completely- if they dont attend then they may be fined up to £1000
members of armed forces: may be excused if commanding officer certifies absence from duty would be prejudicial to efficiency of the service
lawyers and police: they are eligible despite the feeling that this could lead to bias or legally well qualified juror influencing rest of jury
hanif v uk 2012 - European court of human rights rule that having police officer on jury was breach of article 6 of ECHR (right to fair trial) - in this case police officer knew one of prosecution police witnesses - crucial evidence - trial judge ruled it didn't matter and defendant convicted
jury service: june 04 judge from court of appeal (lord justice dyson) summoned to attend as juror - prompted lord woolf to issue observations to judges who are called for jury service:
- judge serves on jury as part of duty as private citizen
- excusal will only be granted in extreme circumstances
- deferral to later date should be sought where judge has other judicial commitments
- if judge knows presiding judge or other person in case they should raise this with jury bailiff or member of court staff if they consider it could interfere
- if matter of discretion for an individual judge sitting a juror as to whether they disclose fact of judicial office
- judges must follow directions given to jury by trial judge on law and should avoid temptation to correct guidance they believe to be inaccurate
challenges: to the array - challenge to whole jury on basis that it has been chosen in an unrepresentative or biased way
R v Fraser 1987 - defendant was from a BAME background but all jurors were white - judge agree to empanel another jury
R v Ford (1989) held that if jury chosen in random manner than could not be challenged simply because it was not multi-racial
for cause - involves challenging right of juror to sit on jury - challenge must point out valid reason why they should not - if juror is disqualified/related to witness or defendant - if these kind of people are not removed then possibility conviction could be quashed
'prosecution may stand by any juror'
selection: central office selects names from list of electors, summons sent to people, must attend unless disqualified or excused
vetting: may be checked for criminal record - in cases of national security it may be subject to a wider check on background
Lay magistrates: legally qualified magistrates - sit as bench of 3 - have wide workload that is mainly connected to criminal cases - deal with civil matters
Role in civil cases: they mostly deal with family cases in family proceedings court - not open to public. also hear cases in open court about non-payment of council tax/tv license
family proceedings court: special panel for this court to hear family cases - including orders for protection against violence, affiliation cases, adoption orders & proceedings under children act 1989
they undergo extensive training before they sit in this court where procedures are different to criminal courts - court setting is private/informal and ideally takes place with parties around large table
cases can be emotional and upsetting for both parties - usually the law magistrates appointed to this court are very experienced - fair amount of reading involved from both parties
they always provide written reasons for decision & can be assisted by extra info provided by Childs guardian (e.g. social worker)
role in criminal cases: will sit as panel of 3 but district judge (magistrates court) will sit along - 97% of all criminal cases
will all be summary offences and triable either way offences where defendant opts for trial in lower court
defendant pleads guilty - they will decide on sentence after hearing representations from prosecution and defence
where defendant pleads not guilty they will hear evidence and decide - if guilty they will again decide on sentence
sentencing power are limited to max of 6 months imprisonment for one offence and fine of £5000
if they consider defendant merits a higher sentence - refer the case to crown court sentencing
for indictable offences & triable either way offences where defendant opts for crown court trial - deal with preliminary hearings which can involve early admin hearings/remand hearings/bail applications and committal proceedings before case is transferred to crown court
youth court - specially nominated and trained magistrates form youth court panel to hear criminal charges against young offenders aged between 10 &17 - panels usually include at least 1 man or 1 woman - private and informal
appeals - lay magistrates also sit in crown court to hear appeals from magistrates court against conviction/sentence - 2 magistrates will form panel with qualified judge
qualifications: do not need to have any legal qualifications - some requirements as to their character in that they must be suitable in character/integrity/understanding for work they have to perform
1998 - lord chancellor set out 6 key qualities: good character/ understanding and communication/social awareness/ maturity and sound temperament/sound judgement/commitment and reliability
they must have certain judicial qualities - important that they are able to assimilate factual info & make reasoned decision on it & also take account of reasoning of others and work as a team
other qualifications are:
- aged between 18 and 65 on appointment on and have to retire at 70
- expected to live and work within or near local justice area to which they are allocated
- be prepared to commit themselves at least 26 half days each year - quite onerous commitment & does put off some people
some people are not eligible - include people with serious criminal convictions although conviction for minor motoring offence will not automatically disqualify candidate
others who are disqualified include undischarged bankrupts, members of forces and those whose work is incompatible with sitting e.g. police officers and traffic wardens.
relatives of those working in justice system are not likely to be appointed as it would not appear just if the wife of local police officer were to sit to decide cases
people whose hearing is impaired of who by reason of infirmity cannot carry out all duties of magistrate cannot be appointed
close relatives will not be appointed to same bench
selection and appointment: about 1200 lay magistrates are appointed each year - appointments made by senior presiding judge
local advisory committees: have max of 12 members - include mixture of magistrates and non-magistrates. however majority of members tend to be current or former justices of peace - about 1/2 members have to retire in rotation every 3 yrs
committees try to encourage wide a range of potential candidates as possible to put themselves forward.
advertisments may be placed in local papers - especially free or on community noticeboards or even on busses - done in order to attract wide spectrum of potential candidates as possible
intention is to create panel that is representative of all aspects of society - achieve this, magistrates are matched against mix of occupational/industrial/social groupings as shown in last census
interview: when applying candidate must fill out form and give name of two referees - two stage process
first interview: panel tries to find out more about candidates personal attributes in particular looking to see if they have 6 qualities and candidates attitudes
second interview: testing candidates potential judicial aptitiude - done by dicussion of at least 2 case studies that are typical of those hear regularly in magistrates courts
appointment: advisory committee will interview candidates and then submit names of who they think are suitable to senior presiding judge - then appoint new magistrates
Training
training is supervised by magisterial committee of judicial college - committee has drawn up syllabus of topics that law magistrates should cover in their training - because of large numbers of lay magistrates most of the actual training is carried out in local areas sometimes through the clerk of court sometimes through weekend courses organized by universities with magistrates from region attending . college also provides direct training for bench chairmanship and for members of local training committees. college also provides guidance and training material for local delivery - includes bench books for use in courts and good practice guides for training committees on running mentoring schemes and appraisal - material is used by legal advisors to deliver training in each area
Mentors: each new magistrate keeps personal development log of process and has mentor to assit them - take part in structured courtroom observation of cases at least 3 occasions - should be arranged so that they see different aspects of work and should include preliminary decisions
during first 2 years of new magistrate sitting in court some of sessions will be mentored - in same period magistrate is also expected to attend training sessions
appraisal: after one year or whenever it is felt that magistrate is ready - will be an appraisal of magistrate to check if they have acquired necessary skills
any magistrate who is unable to satisfy appraiser will be given extra training - and after this is the magistrate still cant show they have the necessary skills then matter is referred to local advisory committee - may recommend magistrate is removed