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" Tribes, trials and traditions : "
Wilkinson, John Paul.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1093411
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| Doc. No
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TLets282661
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| Main Entry
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Wilkinson, John Paul.
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| Title & Author
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Tribes, trials and traditions :\ Wilkinson, John Paul.
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| College
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London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
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| Date
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1992
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| student score
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1992
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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The lay magistrates' court system in England and Wales has, for centuries,permitted the detailed involvement of thousands of ordinary legally unqualifiedmembers of local communities in decisions which can have a profound effect onthe lives and liberties of their fellow citizens. The role of magistrate is, therefore,important, and, for centuries, 'the great and good' monopolised local lawenforcement and social control on behalf of the state. However, as this thesissuggests, the rather ad hoc, piecemeal development of the system allowedimbalances and inequalities to arise, and despite repeated efforts to reform thesystem in both regards, two principle criticisms remain: perceived sentencinginconsistency and social imbalance.The thesis suggests that there is a connection - denied in conventional rhetoricabout criminal justice - between these two areas, a connection which is bestunderstood via the concept of 'court traditions': habitual practices, attitudes andbeliefs developed within the magistracy and, more particularly, within localbenches, which allow 'non-legal' factors to influence decision-making and whichperpetuate particular traditional views of the position and role of magistrates.These explanations can even utilise contradictory conceptions of the lay justicesystem, parading faults in one view as virtues in another.To investigate these 'traditional views', the researcher studied almost 300 layjustices and their professional colleagues at nine different English magistrates'courts. The study updates previous research about the social composition of themagistracy and - having developed a definition of 'court traditions' -examines how far this corresponds to respondents' own perceptions of theworkings of the system.Attention was not only focused at the local grassroots level of lay involvementin the criminal justice system, for the researcher also studied the role of the layjustices' representative organisation, the Magistrates' Association. Possibly forthe first time, the detailed working and position of this widely respected andinfluential group are critically discussed, and parallels are drawn between theroles of the Association and of lay justices in preserving the status quoinequalities of power and wealth of modern society
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| Subject
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Law
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| Added Entry
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London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
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