(Title Image: Magistrates’ Association)
BBC Wales reports the Magistratess Association has called for more people under the age of 30 to consider applying for the role, as figures reveal just 1% of magistrates in Wales (equating to about 10 people) were under that age and there were just 41 magistrates aged 30-40.
Magistrates deal with less serious criminal cases and some family law cases. At present, the age to apply is between 18-65, with a compulsory retirement age of 70.
It’s said that encouraging a wider pool of applicants would bring broader perspectives to magistrates court cases.
Llanelli-based solicitor Gareth Jones said: “When I talk with defendants before and after they’ve been in court, some say that the chair was nice, was lovely, but others say that ‘the person up there, in his 60s, is talking to me like I’m a child and they don’t understand what I’ve been through'”.
The criminal justice system is non-devolved. The UK Ministry of Justice told BBC Wales they have a £1million programme to encourage people from a wider range of backgrounds to become magistrates.
