Magistrates Court New Sentencing Guidelines

The 21,000 active magistrates in England and Wales deal with over 90% of criminal cases and makes up 85% of all judicial office holders.

In court, all three magistrates have an equal responsibility in the decision-making process, the chairman (in the middle) is the one that speaks on behalf of them all. The magistrates who sit either side are called wingers. The chairman is usually the more experienced and has undertaken additional training to take on this role.

Magistrates listen very carefully to everything that everyone says in open court.

Magistrates have to decide if someone is guilty or innocent, whether a defendant should be allowed to have bail and the appropriate sentence when defendants either plead or are found guilty.

Magistrates deal with a lot of traffic cases such as no insurance, failing to stop at an accident, defective tyres etc. They also hear environmental cases such as pollution, health and safety cases, cruelty to animals and many more unusual cases.

Magistrates may also hear civil cases, for example family matters and non-payment of council tax.

Magistrates are volunteers but they can claim travel and subsistence. They are required to do a minimum of 26 half day sittings (13 days) per year, more if they also sit in other courts such as family or youth courts. Many magistrates can undertake more and the average number of sittings per year is about 35 but they should not sit more than 70 times a year.

Magistrates do not sit exams nor do they have to be legally qualified. There is some training before an appointed magistrate sits in court but then they are allocated a mentor for the first year or so who can help them by explaining matters that arise as they sit in court. Once magistrates have sat for 12 months and have completed their consolidation they are appraised by other magistrates, who have been trained as appraisers.

All magistrates are expected to keep their knowledge up-to-date and to attend on-going training sessions. Completed appraisals are sent to a group of magistrates on the bench known as the Training and Development Committee who are responsible for any training needs.

All new magistrates sit in the adult court to start with. Once they have gained experience they may decide to undertake more training to sit in other courts such as youth or family or to take on more responsibility, for example, to become a mentor or to sit with a judge on appeals in the Crown Court.

New sentencing guidelines for magistrates' courts published:

The Sentencing Council has published revised guidelines for offences in the Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines.

The guidelines apply to all offenders aged 18 and older who are sentenced on or after 24 April 2017, regardless of the date of the offence.

The revised guidelines are available on the offence pages and can be viewed here directly:

• Alcohol sale offences – Licensing Act 2003, s.141; s.146; s.147
• Animal cruelty – Animal Welfare Act 2006, s.4; s.8 and s.9
• Careless driving – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.3
• Communication network offences – Communications Act 2003, s.127(1)
• Communication network offences – Communications Act 2003 s.127(2)
• Drive whilst disqualified – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.103
• Drugs – fail to attend/remain for initial assessment –Drugs Act 2005, s.12
• Drugs – fail/refuse to provide a sample – Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.63B
• Drunk and disorderly in a public place – Criminal Justice Act 1967, s.91
• Excess alcohol (drive/attempt) – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.5(1)(a)
• Excess alcohol (in charge) – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.5(1)(b)
• Fail to provide specimen for analysis (drive/attempt) – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.7(6)
• Fail to provide specimen for analysis (in charge) – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.7(6)      
• Fail to stop/report road accident – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.170(4)
• Football related offences – Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985, s.2(1) and s.2(2), Football Offences Act 1991, s.2, s.3 and s.4 and Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, s.166
• No insurance – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.143
• Obstruct/resist a police constable in execution of duty – Police Act 1996, s.89(2)
• Railway fare evasion – Regulation of Railways Act 1889, s.5(1) and s.5(3)
• School non-attendance – Education Act 1996, s.444(1) and s.444(1A)
• Sexual activity in a public lavatory – Sexual Offences Act 2003, s.71
• Speeding – Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, s.89(1)
• Taxi touting/soliciting for hire – Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, s.167
• TV licence payment evasion – Communications Act 2003, s.363
• Unfit through drink or drugs (drive/attempt) – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.4(1)
• Unfit through drink or drugs (in charge) – Road Traffic Act 1988, s.4(2)
• Vehicle interference – Criminal Attempts Act 1981, s.9
• Vehicle taking, without consent – Theft Act 1968, s.12