Use of Lay people in the English court of Law By Atis Stafeckis Lay magistrates are legally

The Magistrates’ role was to hear the evidence of distinct cases, criminal or civil matters and decide whether the accused is guilty or not guilty to an offence as charged and decide the penalty that will be given to those that are found guilty or plead guilty to an offence. Moreover, the Magistrate determined whether a case should go to a different court or to adjourn the case to another date.

A jury is a person who is un-qualified and not paid who is selected at random to participate in the court hearing. To be

The jury represents the voice of the people, regardless, juries are ethnically un-diverse, consist heavily of certain age groups and members of certain socioeconomic statuses. To ensure better representativeness, two specific reforms can be implemented. First, making avoiding jury duty more difficult. The list of excuses in the Act can be reduced to achieve this. Additionally, the reforms must address the racial diversity in juries. According to Israel, parties are likely to attempt to exclude Indigenous and other ethnic minorities from in the selection process (1998). However, for the jury to represent the voice of the people it must be racially diverse, as Australia is a very multicultural country. As a result, a possible reform is making it more difficult for the parties to object to certain jurors. To rectify the issue of a lack of competence in juries, a solution is to expand the kinds of cases that a judge-only trials. At present, for example, complicated tax and fraud cases require a judge-only trial. A reform is to make it possible for further kinds of cases to be added. An alternative reform is to allow an independent lawyer to explain issues to the jury outside of court sessions, rather than relying on the judges’ instructions alone. The lawyer could identify any misunderstandings and correct them. Overall, it is necessary for reforms to be put in place to address

Lay magistrates are people that deal with the vast majority of legal cases in the courts. They sit on a bench of two to three magistrates. They are part-time and unpaid, and also unqualified. They have to be aged between 18- 65 and sit 26 and a half days per year. You are unable to become a lay magistrate if you have a serious criminal conviction, undischarged bankruptcy and a member of the police or a

Therefore people whose occupation involves around the government and legal system such as the governor, judge/magistrate, lawyer, police officer or prison officer cannot participate in jury service. Also people who has bee convicted of a serious crime or has been sentenced to prison are not allowed to participate. People who cannot read speak or understand English also cannot take part. If a person has some kind of connection with the person accused, they must step down. If a person participated in a jury service during the last 12 months, they will not be able to participate again for 3 years.

In this task I will write a report about comparing the roles of judges, lawyers and lay people within the English courts.

Juries exists in the criminal trial to listen to the case presented to them and, as a third, non-bias party, decide beyond reasonable doubt if the accused is guilty. For the use of a trial by juror to be effective, no bias should exists in the jurors judgments, the jurors should understand clearly their role and key legal terms, and the jury system should represent the communities standards and views whilst upholding the rights of the accused and society and remain cost and time effective.

The first phase of a criminal jury trial is focused on selecting specific jurors, which is accomplished through a process referred to as 'voir dire' which is a screening of potential jurors. In the criminal trial involving an offense categorized as a felony "12 jurors and up to six alternate jurors may be chosen." (3rd Judicial District, ) Voir dire of the jury involves the prosecuting and defense attorneys questioning the potential jurors and

Magistrates are volunteers who hear cases in courts in their community. Each case is usually heard by 3 magistrates, including a magistrate who is trained to act as a chairperson

In these instances it is reasonable to excuse these people from Jury duty as they may have a bias to the case, or are physically or mentally unstable to make an impartial decision about the case. However section 21 and 22 of the act details grounds for exemption:

Impartiality is said to be achieved during the random selection process of the jury empanelment as well as through the courts ability to exclude a person on the basis of their awareness of a particular person involved in or a witness in the case.

The role of a lay magistrate is one that is at the core of the legal system in England & Wales. They help maintain the foundation of the criminal justice system and deal with approximately 98% of all criminal matters. The sheer volume of cases that they deal with has helped earned them the title of the workhorses of the criminal justice system.

The Selection and Role of a Jury in a Criminal Trial This assignment focuses on how a jury is selected and its role in a

It could be said that there are many advantages to having a jury in the English legal system and it must be considered that li is the English legal system has adopted juries into their judiciary system for over 1000 years therefore it must be considered that it must have weighty benefits. It could be said that public participation is one of the main focal point for having a jury in the English legal system. A jury allows ordinary people to participate in the administration of

Lay magistrates take on a lot of cases in England and wales in magistrate’s courts as well as sentencing on most cases. Magistrate’s courts hear cases involving prosecutions of young offenders and children family cases. Lay magistrates also attend Family cases; this is due to change in 2014, where these types of hearings will be passed to the Family Court . In general Lay magistrates only take on minor criminal offences. With the use of lay magistrate’s a lot of time is spared to parliament and higher courts to concentrate on more serious offences within the law as well as problems concerning the country in general, such as the Scottish referendum. This makes the use of Lay Magistrates essential in the English legal system.