Youth mobilise to change magistrates’ Rumpole image

YOUNG people are fuelling record applications to become magistrates as the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) pushes to shed its middle-class Rumpole of the Bailey image.

A recruitment drive to widen diversity by bringing in more people under 30 has attracted nearly 14,000 registrations of interest, putting the MOJ on course to hit its target of 2,000 new magistrates by the end of the year.

The MOJ campaign to plug a shortage of more than 4,000 magistrates within the next three years was launched only a month ago to help tackle the vast backlog in criminal cases.

But officials disclosed that 13,675 people were interested in becoming a justice of the peace, seven times more than the Moj’s first-year target, as it aims to raise numbers from 12,300 to 17,000.

Sources said the potential applicants were more representative of society and included younger recruits, the selfemployed and more people from ethnic minorities.

Only 1 per cent of magistrates are currently aged below 30, with 49 per cent over 60, according to the latest MOJ data. Women make up 56 per cent and 13 per cent are from ethnic minorities.

Bev Higgs, chairman of the Magistrates Association, said: “Most people in the community don’t come into contact with courts. They think it is all Rumpole of the Bailey. But when they get here, they realise it is run by the community.

“It is all about awareness. We are talking about it being something for all kinds of people.”

Applicants face two interviews and a problem-solving exercise where they have to pass judgment on a mock case.

After three days’ training, new magistrates are mentored for a year including six initial sittings with an experienced lay judge.