Top magistrate: We need more JPs with a criminal record

MORE people with criminal records should be made JPs to increase diversity among the judiciary, the chairman of Magistrates Association said last night.

John Bache insisted a more representative set of magistrates would make criminals feel less alienated by the system.

Someone with a criminal conviction is not barred from becoming a JP, but Ministry of Justice guidance has warned against people who have committed a serious offence applying for the job.

It said that it is ‘unlikely’ a serious offender would be taken on. It also appeared to rule out people who have committed a number of minor offences, been banned from driving in the past five to ten years or declared bankrupt.

But Mr Bache defended those with minor criminal records.

He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘We all make mistakes, we all do things we shouldn’t have done. But we want to increase diversity. And if we did say anyone who’s done anything wrong ever isn’t going to be appointed, that’s no way at all to increase diversity.’

He added: ‘I’d want to encourage everyone, I wouldn’t want to particularly encourage people who have got a criminal record but I certainly wouldn’t want to discourage them from applying.

‘I wouldn’t want them to think that because they’ve got a relatively minor criminal record some years ago that they’re not going to be accepted as a magistrate, because that would be completely erroneous.’

A total of 15,000 magistrates in England and Wales deal with 95 per cent of all criminal cases. But latest MoJ figures reveal the number has plummeted in the last six years by 40 per cent.

It is thought the drastic drop is because scores of older magistrates are retiring. Magistrates must retire at the age of 70.

Mr Bache said another 9,000 magistrates are needed to fill the void.

He also agreed with Labour MP David Lammy’s report last year that noted the lack of black and ethnic minority magistrates.

He stressed: ‘If you see three white faces, as Lammy pointed out, and you’re from an ethnic minority, the perception may be that they’re not on your side.

‘That would be wrong, but you can understand that might be the perception.’ Mr Bache, who has sat on the bench since 1989, added: ‘We’re trying very hard to increase diversity, but it isn’t as easy as you’d think.

‘For a start people aren’t applying from ethnic minorities to the same degree as they are from white people – because they’ve got the idea that people from their backgrounds don’t become magistrates. And that is obviously erroneous.’