UK Law Articles
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The Times
May 16 2000
JPs put themselves under the microscope Magistrates will be judged by their peers in a new system aimed at honing their skills. Paula Davies took part
JPs put themselves under the microscope
Justices of the Peace have been sitting in judgment on others since the 14th century. Now, it appears, they are about to sit in judgment on themselves - not before time, some might argue.The Magistrates' New Training Initiative (MNTI, or Minty as it is being called) is a system of self-assessment and outside appraisal, and a version of apprenticeship designed to make magistrates better at their job. After being at the pilot stage for more than a year, it is expected to be fully implemented later this year.
The effects will be far reaching, if not revolutionary, involving a close and careful assessment of everything we do and how we do it.
My first encounter with it was, to put it mildly, worrying. When a wad of 40 foolscap pages landed on the desks of Inner London magistrates, a number of my colleagues threw their copies straight into the bin. An excessive reaction perhaps, but this Personal Development Log (PDL), produced by the Judicial Studies Board, is - at first sight - more than a little complicated.
It has been described as cumbersome and, in some places, incomprehensible in its attempt to require justices to tick more than 160 competencies for the Adult Court alone.
It sounds crazy to many long-time justices but, if it is simplified, it promises, among other things, to produce a better-trained, more consistent magistracy. With suitable amendments, which MCCs have the discretion to make, the PDL could be of help to all justices.
The new training is a complete change from the old system, which required a minimum of l2 hours - usually made up of talks and discussions on new legislation - every three years.
In future, all magistrates will have to undergo regular appraisals by trained colleagues. A trainer's pack is now being produced but those of us who have operated as supervising chairmen are expected to be able to appraise our colleagues without any extra training.
It may be interesting but it will not be easy for either party. I have already opted out of one appraisal because I have known the other person well for many years and might have felt constrained about making any criticisms. Appraising a stranger will be much easier.
And so it has proved. I recently carried out my first appraisal of a colleague whom I had met before but did not know personally.
The appraisal form consists of a list of competencies, from the ability to communicate effectively in court, through knowledge of the workings of the criminal justice system, dealing with colleagues as well as the clerk, and the essential ability to be in control of the court.
The chairman I was appraising appeared totally confident as well as competent. And I had no difficulty in seeing him as an immensely capable chairman. "What do you want as a bribe?" he asked - and yes, we all knew he was joking. Being a magistrate can be fun as well as serious.
Mentoring is coming in, too. The word, based on Mentor, the friend of Ulysses, to whom the Greek entrusted his son for care and direction before setting out on an epic voyage, is more about a form of apprenticeship based on the workings of the ancient craft guilds. The magistrates' mentoring involves an experienced justice assisting a new magistrate to achieve four basic competencies.
The first is an understanding of the framework in which magistrates operate. The second is the ability to follow basic law and procedure. The third is the ability to think and act judicially. The fourth is the ability to work as an effective member of a team.
"We learn all that by the simple business of sitting with more experienced colleagues," one justice said. True, but this, of course, leaves out the fact that we might be picking up the wrong signals. This way we might have just as much chance of picking up poor practice as of learning the correct way to proceed. On the other hand, it would be a great pity if everyone ended up sounding exactly the same.
One of the greatest joys for me has been sitting with totally different personalities who have communicated remarkably well with all the people in their courts, as well as behaving in a properly judicial manner.
I remember a colleague who told a boy who was guilty of minor shoplifting that he could make money without committing crime. "Look where I have got," he said, waving his gold watch at the boy. "And everything I have done was all legal." The "politically correct" of today would no doubt be horrified, yet the boy - and even more his parents - were delighted.
This happened some years ago. But, more recently, I was told off for telling a boy that he might go "inside", instead of using the term "being sent to a Young Offenders' Institution".
As far as most magistrates are concerned, it is the understanding that matters and the new system ought to make us better at that as well as everything else. In fact, magistrates should welcome the new training - provided that it doesn't turn us into mere mouthpieces.
- The author is an Inner London magistrate.
