Lay Personnel are made up of the jury and magistrates.
These are people who do not need to be qualified and are unpaid. Both positions make decisions due to their own view of the case and have to decide a serious outcome for it. Jury To be eligible for a position as a jury you have to be over the age of 18. Then the government picks randomly someone to become a jury for a case. There will be a letter in the post informing that person they have been chosen and they will have to participate in this by law as part of being a citizen of the United Kingdom.However if a person has a mental disability or other very good reason they are exempt.
Some people would say that this is a good way of picking a jury as it gives an input of someone that would not be biased as they would not be able to take part in being a jury for a case that they know the person involved. Another good reason for picking in this way is that everyone has to take part in a decision for someone that lives in the community and not just have others make decisions for everyone. However I believe that this is not a good way of selecting a jury.I believe this for several reasons, one of these reasons being that some people have very stressful lives and are very busy, resulting in them not wanting to take part in the case as a jury.
Many do not want to take part as they would have to take time off their work to do so, this could result in not getting paid for the period of time the trial is, this may cause more stress within the family or for the person taking part as they may need the money for financial reasons. Another reason I do not agree with this is that they ask the defendant if they know the jury and if the defendant does.They may lie if they are family or friends with the jury, and due to this the jury will be biased to that defendant despite the crime they have committed. I believe that lawyers or solicitors should be jury’s as they are qualified and know about the legal system and will not be biased as they understand what there decision will result in.
I also believe that people in the United Kingdom do have the right if they want to, to become a jury, but they should have to apply and then the government can decide and check if the certain person is eligible to take art as a jury.Magistrates To become a magistrate it is a simple process, you have to apply once you are over the age of 18 if you believe you want to be a magistrate. Once you have applied, the government will then do checks to see if you are eligible for the position. As a magistrate you have to live within 15 miles of the court you are attending and you cannot oversee a case if the defendant is a family member or a friend.
You can also not attend if you have a criminal record of something that would affect the decision made in the case.Some people would believe this isn’t a good way of choosing a magistrate as they may think everyone should take part in the decisions made. But I think this is a good way as if the person lives within 15miles they may know the background of that type of person and would be able to decide a verdict focusing on that. Also it is a good way as people do not feel pressured and do not have to take part in something they do not particularly want to. This will result in people not dreading participating in this and will take thought into what they decide.
