Yorkshire magistrates: What it's like to serve on the bench in the region and how you can volunteer too

“I felt before I was a magistrate that I was a tolerant person and had a good grasp of the community,” she reflects, “but actually sitting as a magistrate, I think I’ve become more tolerant and have a much better understanding of some of the challenges that people face. I think you certainly learn not to be as judgemental because you don’t know what’s going on in someone else’s life.”

Though magistrates are volunteers with no previous legal experience, they are supported by a legal advisor to help them make decisions. They operate as a bench of three, with a chairperson – as Amie is – and two wingers, each listening to what is said and then together deciding on a course of action.

Family court magistrates don’t pass sentences, but they do make decisions that affect vulnerable children. They can support separated parents in making arrangements for their children, enforce child maintenance orders, and help to prevent domestic abuse.

With criminal court cases, almost all of them start in a magistrates’ court. More serious offences such as murder, rape and robbery are passed on to the crown court, but magistrates may find themselves making decisions in the likes of drug cases, theft, motoring offences, assaults and criminal damage.

If a defendant pleads not guilty, magistrates must listen to and consider all the evidence provided by the court, before agreeing on a verdict. If a defendant has pleaded or been found guilty, magistrates can impose fines, community penalties and prison sentences.

“We make all decisions together [as a bench],” Amie explains. “We use strict guidelines about the offence and how it can be punished.”

“I don’t think I ever worry that I’ve done the wrong thing even though sometimes it might be a difficult decision,” she adds.

“It is a big responsibility but you do get really good training and there are strict guidelines so you can’t really go too wrong. We don’t have to have a legal background but we have a legal advisor who sits with us as a go to person to ask about points of law.

"And as long as we follow the guidelines and we’ve listened to the circumstances and the aggravating and mitigating factors and taken them into consideration…you can’t really go wrong. But it is a responsibility and you do change people’s lives. Banning someone from driving for example for two years has a huge impact on someone’s life, as does sending someone to prison.”

Amie, who is the diversity and community relations lead for North and West Yorkshire, is speaking about her role as part of a national drive to increase the number and diversity of magistrates across the country.

The Judiciary of England and Wales and the Ministry of Justice are calling on people to be part of a new wave of volunteers, “giving back to their local community and helping the magistracy better reflect the diversity of British society”.

They say that magistrates typically develop “highly transferrable skills such as critical analysis, complex problem-solving, mediation, influencing and decision-making, all of which stand to benefit them in their wider lives”.

West Yorkshire magistrate Huma Ahmed is encouraging others to learn about and apply for the role. The science teacher from Bingley has been a magistrate, predominantly in Bradford, for more than 20 years. Her father was one of the first Asian police officers in the country and encouraged her to apply and make a difference to her local community.

“The highlight of the role is making a difference to people’s lives,” Huma says. “It’s given me the opportunity to make a positive impact and contribution to the community where I live.”

Huma has been encouraging people from a range of backgrounds to consider becoming magistrates, having seen, in her early years, an under-representation of younger, female and Asian magistrates in particular.

She says she has witnessed the magistracy become more diverse, but is eager for that work to continue. "It’s so important to me that we attract a wide range of magistrates so that different life experience is brought to the bench,” she says. "We need to ensure the magistracy reflects our diverse local communities and that a real cross section of people are involved in deciding the facts of the case.”

Anyone aged between 18 and 70 who can commit to at least 13 days a year for at least five years is encouraged to come forward.

Justice Minister Mike Freer says: “Magistrates have a vital role to play in our justice system and we want to see every part of society represented on their benches. By volunteering their time and experience from other walks of life, they play a hugely important part in transforming lives and delivering justice for victims."

For more information, visit icanbeamagistrate.co.uk