ENGLISH LEGAL SYSTEM Most criminal cases are heard & decided by Lay Magistrates. These are "volunteers who are not
lawyers but receive quite a lot of training to do the job. They are intelligent, reliable &
committed people who display common sense skills. They listen to minor criminal offences like
speeding, small fights, flytipping. They are not paid & do about 28 sittings a year. Many of them
do the job as they say they want to give something back to society. More serious cases like
murder, are of course, decided by a judge & jury in the Crown Court. But the problem with
magistrates is that they are often seen as middle class, middle minded & being a bit out of touch
with ordinary people so the system has been criticised. Having said that, there are as many
females as males doing the job & you don't get as many female judges in the Courts!
They listen to about 97% of all our criminal cases. They decide on guilt/innocence &
sentence people. Sometimes they send the guilty to prison.
Do you think magistrates should be used for this important job?
Why?