Dire Magistrates: Who are Britain’s self-selecting arbiters of justice?
The Bunker – News without the nonsense
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Show Notes
Around 12,000 people in England and Wales volunteer as magistrates. That means they can sentence people to up to a year in prison. Yet they have barely any training and no legal qualifications. Penelope Gibbs, the director of Transform Justice, tells Ros Taylor about the problems with relying on a self-selecting, middle-class magistracy who may never have seen inside a jail. They talk about the difficulties in trying to hold remote hearings during the pandemic and how a cash-strapped system struggles to deliver justice.
- “The training for magistrates is woeful, and I and others have been saying that for years.” – Penelope Gibbs
- “There used to be really feisty magistrates who would speak out but gradually their independence has been ground down.” – Penelope Gibbs
- “It’s an incredibly closed and untransparent system.” – Penelope Gibbs
- “What happens in magistrates court is pretty hidden most of the time.” – Penelope Gibbs
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Written and presented by Ros Taylor Producer: Chris Jones. Audio production: Jade Bailey. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Music by Kenny Dickinson THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production
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