Law Weblog

Call for younger and more minority ethnic magistrates in Dorset

Sunday 4 July 2004 at 3:06 pm | In News | Post Comment

2 July 2004: Constitutional Affairs Secretary Lord Falconer called today for more young people and those from minority ethnic backgrounds to become magistrates in Dorset.
No magistrates aged 18 have been appointed since the Lord Chancellor lowered effective age of appointment from 27 to 18 in 2003.

He was speaking during a visit to Bournemouth on Friday whilst visiting several agencies and staff within the Criminal Justice System (CJS) such as the Pre-Charge Advice Centre, Detained Persons Unit, Volume Crime Investigation Unit and Bournemouth Crown Court.

There are 322 magistrates in Dorset. However, only five are under 40 years of age and only eight come from a minority ethnic background. More magistrates in their twenties and thirties would provide a more diverse magistracy that would better reflect the community it serves.

Lord Falconer said:
“Magistrates are the cornerstone of our justice system. The overwhelming majority of criminal cases begin and end in the magistrates’ courts. They play a major part in meeting the Government’s commitment to narrowing the justice gap.

“That is why we need to re-double our efforts and recruit younger magistrates and increase the number of candidates from a more diverse background.

“One of the main difficulties in recruiting from minority ethnic communities lies in the generally held, but erroneous view, that to become a magistrate you have to be white, middle class, middle-age and professional. This is a preconception that we have to challenge.”

Lord Falconer said that Dorset was a good example to the rest of the country, however, in its recruitment of women magistrates with about half of all magistrates in the county being female.

Dorset’s youngest sitting magistrate is not only a woman but was just 29 years old when she was appointed last year. Heidi Leavesley endorsed Lord Falconer’s push for younger people to become magistrates, saying it’s brought a whole new dimension to her life.

“Becoming a Magistrate has been rewarding for so many reasons.

“The role is so stimulating and challenging personally and allows me to make a real contribution to my community. Also, as a busy mum and part time employee, the workable number of sittings and general flexibility means that I can easily balance my courts sittings with my other roles so I really do get the best of both worlds.

“Personally, I would love to see more young people getting involved because they have so much to offer to the bench. Different approaches, different perspectives and different experiences – all of these things help maintain balance and that is key, in my opinion, to maintaining a healthy bench.”

Last year the Government launched a national campaign to recruit more magistrates generally.

It wants to:

– Almost double the number of new magistrates appointed each year over the next three years, from 1,500 to 2,500. This is a vital element of the Government’s commitment to narrowing the justice gap of bringing 1.2 million offences to justice by 2005/06.

– Encourage younger people to become magistrates – less than four per cent are under 40. About 80 per cent of magistrates are over 50.

– Targeted recruitment of ethnic minorities in cities where they are under-represented.

– Encourage more people with disabilities to become magistrates.

– Encourage employers to give workers time off to become magistrates.

– The Government is proposing cutting the number of the minimum number of sitting days to the equivalent of one a month.

There are about 28,000 lay magistrates in England and Wales.
In Dorset:
48 magistrates are between 40 – 49 years
150 magistrates are between 50 – 59 years
119 magistrates are between 60 – 69 years