Magistrates' Courts Need 'younger, More Diverse Recruits'

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37689255

I have been approached in the past, by friends who serve on the Bench, to train a Magistrate. I am still not sure.

Any other AB'ers who have considered....even more important....do we have any Magistrates here on AB !

[Islay]

I agree with the majority of magistrates being over 60 and white the system needs to move forward and adapt.

[youngmafbog]

//MPs are calling for urgent action over figures that show 86% of magistrates are aged 50 or over and 89% are white.//

From the last census:
Ethnic group Population (2011) Percentage of total population
White: Total 55,010,359 87.1


So a couple of % out then on the white not really an issue and that has probably changed in the last 5 years.

As for the majority over 50, with age comes wisdom. Would you really want a load of the generation me me me on the bench?

Perhaps a better goal would be to rid it of the liberal left wing which appear to have taken over.

[naomi24]

//As for the majority over 50, with age comes wisdom.//

And also free time.

[Gromit]

// with age comes wisdom //

A well worn idiom, but no evidence to support it (and quite a bit to contradict it).
And as for magistrates being predominantly liberal left, that is just plain wrong.

[andy-hughes]

Gromit - //// with age comes wisdom //

A well worn idiom, but no evidence to support it (and quite a bit to contradict it).
And as for magistrates being predominantly liberal left, that is just plain wrong. //

My father used to constantly bang on to me when I was growing up that because he had lived longer than me, it naturally followed that he knew more than me, and understood the world more than me.

As a child I obviously accepted this to be the truth.

When I became an adult, and developed the ability to question and reason for myself, I understood that he was, in fact, an idiot.

So I would argue that age can confer wisdom, but it's not an automatic process.

[EDDIE51]

Is there any evidence that the current batch of magistrates are doing a poor job? I don't think there is. As said, very few people under pension age can spare the time.

[Islay]

My MIL is 'older' and that woman does not have an ounce of common sense - thankfully when she applied to be a magistrate she was turned down.

[Old_Geezer]

It says "younger" Mikey, and I'm unsure how diverse the Welsh are.

[Old_Geezer]

Experience is an aid to wisdom. Downsides may be getting set in one's ways etc. and being less willing to accept new views, but usually because one can see the pitfalls younger folk miss or dismiss. Senility can become an issue but should be identifiable. Idiots would presumably not get past the selection committee.

[EDDIE51]

This prompted me to check up on the process to apply, but I find that at 65 I am too old! magistrates have to retire at 70 and be under 65 to apply to become one. Pity as it seems a useful and interesting way to spend some time.

[mikey4444]

I think the issue of money is important.

Most cases that come to court are tried by Magistrates, not by Judges or Recorders. In any Magistrates Court this morning, every body but the Magistrates themselves will be paid. Why are we not paying them ? A judge gets paid after all.

Another aspect that has been mentioned is the time available. Some of my previous employers would not have taken kindly towards my requests for time off to do voluntary work.

As regards age, I can't see that a 30 years old could do any worse then a 60 year old. Why...because he is 30 ?

I am dismissing the ludicrous liberal left wing comment !

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit
// with age comes wisdom //

/// A well worn idiom, but no evidence to support it (and quite a bit to contradict it). ///

Strange that since time immemorial, the 'ELDERS' have always dished out justice, so there must be some truth in that idiom.

[anotheoldgit]

For one who is always criticising others for name calling and being insulting, for a certain ABer to call his own father an idiot, proves the type of person that ABer really is.

[naomi24]

I think most people, when they're young, consider to some degree, their parents to be idiots. Most of us, though, eventually grow up, and with that comes the realisation that generally they're not.

[-Talbot-]

anotheoldgit
For one who is always criticising others for name calling and being insulting, for a certain ABer to call his own father an idiot, proves the type of person that ABer really is.




Does it?

[andy-hughes]

AOG - //For one who is always criticising others for name calling and being insulting, for a certain ABer to call his own father an idiot, proves the type of person that ABer really is. //

It does - I am the child of a serially abusing father who dealt physical mental and emotional abuse for as long as he was able. A pompous priggish bully who delighted in belittling his only son at any and every opportunity, resulting in a lifelong hatred that was only partly alleviated by my father's death.

We were estranged for years, but my father left instructions with his new family (he bigamously married his mistress and then deserted his family to live with her) that his original family were not to be informed of his death until after his cremation.

Pity, I was hoping for a grave, so I could go and dance on it.

I do abhor name-calling on here, between cyber- acquaintances, because I think it is inappropriate, but I will be the judge of how to view my father, because I am entitled to do so.

[andy-hughes]

Naomi - //I think most people, when they're young, consider to some degree, their parents to be idiots. Most of us, though, eventually grow up, and with that comes the realisation that generally they're not. //

I think you are right - I know my own children, through adolescence, did not have the highest regard for me, which is absolutely part of the maturing process - and that as adults now, we are all extremely close.

But in some cases, and mine is one - the perception that one parent is perceived as being a useless human being can only be confirmed and enhanced in adulthood.

I deeply envy anyone who has close parents, something I have been denied.

[andy-hughes]

divebuddy - //On the other hand, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. //

Does that tell us all we need to know about your father then?