Justice and Punishment: Understanding the Judicial System and Sentencing

This report explores the composition and roles of the judicial system in the United Kingdom, focusing on the appointment of judges and magistrates, their accountability, and the principle of judicial impartiality. It delves into the processes involved in prosecuting a defendant, the role of criminal justice agencies, and the effectiveness of alternative methods of dealing with offenders. The report also examines the ethical dilemmas surrounding sentencing, analyzing key issues arising from current legislation, its impact on criminal justice, and the objectives of punishment in a modern society. Finally, it explores the relationship between sentencing trends and public confidence, and the impact of prosecution and sentencing costs on available resources.

Justice and Punishment

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1: Understand the composition and roles of the judicial system................................................4
LO2: Understand how the judicial system is used for justice and punishment...............................6
LO3: Understand the ethical dilemmas surrounding sentencing.....................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference List................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Judges and magistrates are the most important people in the administration of justice in a
country’s judiciary. They execute the criminal offenders of the society by sentencing them with
the rightful punishment. Administration of justice is the most essential part of the society. In this
report, we cover the appointment of magistrates and judges along with the process of criminal
prosecution by evaluating its effect on the judiciary. It consist an elaborate understanding of the
criminal court justice, effectiveness of judicial punishment, increase of court fee and judicial
sentencing.

LO1: Understand the composition and roles of the judicial system
1.1 Describe the appointment procedures for judges and magistrates
Appointment of magistrates
A magistrate in the United Kingdom can only be appointed if he fall is the age group of eighteen
to seventy. To become a magistrate one should be capable of carrying out minimum of twenty-
six half-day court sittings in one year. Local Advisory Committees in each region recruit the
magistrates. It takes place at different times from depending upon the area of jurisdiction.
Magistrates do not require any formal legal qualifications or trainings (Roeber et al., 2017)
Candidates must have six chief qualities– excellent character; Committed and reliable; socially
aware; quality of sound judgement; communicative and mature. Once appointed as a magistrate,
he or she must undertake the mandatory training held by the English judicial authority. An
association of forty-seven local advisory committees, comprising of local non-magistrates and
serving magistrate
Appointment of judges
The High Court and Supreme Court judges are given the tile of justice and are known by that.
The appointment of the Supreme Court judge is governed under the Schedule 8 and sections 25
to 31, of the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005. It is regulated under the amendment made by
the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (Delaney et al., 2016). This memo provides a concise
documentation of the process. The Queen appoints the judges in the courts of the United
Kingdom until different specifications are implied. According to the English law, section 25 of
the Act of 2005 are regarding legislative requirements for appointment.
1.2 Evaluate the implications of the appointment process for judicial independence
The constitutional theory of UK requires their judiciary to be separate from the independent
government. However, in many cases, government indulges in the working of the judiciary
largely influencing it for political benefits. In order to ensure the law is enforced and executed
impartially, a fresh legal appointment commission started to function in April 2006. It ended the
position of Lord Chancellor as head of the judiciary and it finished his power to appoint judges

(Gee et al., 2017). The judiciary must in all circumstances stay unaffected by the influence of the
government.
1.3 Explain the accountability of the judiciary and magistracy with respect to justice and
punishment
In simpler words, it can be said that accountability of judiciary can be interpreted as judging the
judges (Dubois et al., 2014). According to the role that the judiciary plays, there is potential
possibility of misuse of their power in establishing justice. For this purpose, the constitution had
prefixed a remedy where there are chiefly two provisions, which ensured that the Executive and
the Legislature, two other branches of the government, has some power over the judiciary that
prevents them from being disintegrated from its purpose of serving justice. The magistrate
evaluates the evidence as the panel of judges decide whether the accused is guilty or innocent.
The power of passing a sentence of imprisonment is vested on both the magistrates and on
judges. They also have the power to put the offender under control order with implied
circumstances where their movements are restricted by the order of the court. If it is deemed
necessary, the magistrates and judges of the United Kingdom has the power to order a
community punishment.
1.4 Evaluate the principle of judicial impartiality
According to the constitution of UK, judges should be impartial and independent. However,
there remains a consensus about what principles of impartiality and independence is in practise
(Malleson et al., 2016). It can be said that this rule was administered because impartiality and
independence is a very broad concept that easily covers all different views on its practical
implications. The judiciary must be open-minded to both parties as it is an inherent principle of
procedural justice and is an established maxim. One must bear in mind that objective impartiality
in the judiciary is incapable of being enlisted in a statutory enumeration.

LO2: Understand how the judicial system is used for justice and punishment
2.1 Describe the processes required to prosecute a defendant
When someone is charged with a criminal offence, the Crown Prosecution Service determines
how the defendant or the accused must be charged (Barry et al., 2017). After it makes the
decision, the criminal cases are brought to the court. After the commencement of the trial, the
judges and magistrates make sure that all the parties to the case are given an opportunity to be
heard and to present their case in front of the court. In the course of trial, the judges play an
active role in controlling the conduction of the case according to the relevant law. During the
proceedings, judges make notes of the evidence determining whether it is admissible.
After evidences are heard, the judge sets out for the charges made by the jury. In this stage the
judges refer to notes made in the course of the trial and consider the key points of the case,
highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of arguments presented by each side. The judge then
gives the verdict of the case.
2.2 Explain the role of the criminal justice agencies
The agencies of the criminal justice system are as follows:
 The UK police
It is divided into three bodies: the local branch, national police force, for example the
British Transport Police and Organized Crime Agency and specialized agency of health
and safety execution. They are the first ones to deal with suspected offender and provide
the chief statutory framework of the matter to the courts.
 Crown Prosecution Service
It prosecutes the defendants who have been charged with criminal offences by the police
of UK. The Crown Prosecution System decides whether there is enough evidence to
prosecuted an offender who is allegedly charged by the police.
 The UK Courts
The courts dealing with criminal cases are the Magistrate Courts and the Crown courts.
All criminal matters are initially heard in the Magistrates court. The offences which are

less serious in nature are heard by the former court and the offences which are more
serious are heard by the later court. The court, examines the evidences and gives an order
regarding the prosecution of such matter.
 National Offender Management Service
It is responsible for the services of rehabilitation being provided to the prisoners of UK
and is also responsible for proper running of the prison and the probation services it
provides.
 Youth Justice Board
It is a public body created and administered by the Crime and Disorder Act of 1988. It
monitors the operation and provision of youth justice in UK.
 NACRO- National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders
It extends the strategy of focusing on elevated influence on the government, to improve
the administration of the commissioners and the policy makers to increase its efficiency
in governing the justice system of UK.
2.3 Evaluate the effectiveness of alternative methods of dealing with offenders
The alternative method of dealing with offenders in general imply to reformative theory of
punishment. This method establishes the fact that punishments should never be degrading, as
crime is a disease, which must be treated and thrown away and the offender should not be in a
position of detriment. This alternative method has a positive effect on some of the offender but in
many cases, it has been noticed that the offender goes back to committing crimes and offences
(Moyo et al., 2014). There remains a possibility of establishment of justice being taken for
granted by the offenders. The merit of alternative method of punishment is that reformative
program cost is comparatively less than prison expenses. Fees will be charged from the offenders
for such programs, which could be put on use for better judicial remedies.

LO3: Understand the ethical dilemmas surrounding sentencing
3.1 Analyze the key issues that arise from the implementation of current sentencing
legislation
Sentencing in UK refers to passing of order on an offender by the district judge or the bench of
magistrates in a crown court. There are four main types of sentences- fines, community
sentences, discharges or custodial sentences. Capital punishment is abolished in UK (Hood et
al., 2015). Implementation of current sentencing legislation is referred to the statutory law,
which governs the part of criminal offences and punishment. The district judge, magistrate’s
court and the crown court make implementation of such sentences. The key issue that may arise
is the members of human right society calling out these sentences as punitive over dignity of
human life. Another issue that may arise is the claim for reformative punishment of the offender.
3.2 Analyze the impact of sentencing legislation on criminal justice
The impact of sentencing the offenders in the recent past has largely cut down the number of
criminal offences that took place erratically in the streets of UK. Offenders fear the law and
restrict themselves from indulging into such immoral activities. Sentencing is a form of
executing the legislative principles laid down by the state against the criminals. It is safe to say
that sentences have a positive impact on the protection of the country.
3.3 Evaluate the objectives of punishment in a modern society
The key purposes of punishment in a modern society are to punish the offender so that he or she
will not repeat such offense again and reduce crimes from the society (Garland et al., 2018). It is
also imposed fort reformation and rehabilitation of the offender. The purpose of punishment is
also to bring safety and peace in the country by protecting its people from the criminals.
3.4 Explain the relationship between sentencing trends and public confidence
According to the Crime Survey held for England and Wales, most people are of the opinion that
the courts are too lenient on offenders, and misjudged the severity of the present sentencing
practice. The CSJ quite relaxed when expressing a sentencing preference for a specific matter

which if not taken under serious comprehension may cause harm to the society (Greene et al.,
2017). The height of public confidence in the courts conducting criminal proceedings differ
greatly, depending on certain function of the court.
3.5 Explain how the costs of prosecution and sentencing impact on available resources
The court may order the defendant or the accused to pay what it deem fits the costs to the public
prosecutor, which he is deemed to pay. The new charge of Criminal Court is neither connected to
the severity of the sentence made on defendant or is it a means that is tested (Redlich et al.,
2017). If the defendant files a not-guilty plea, a trial is executed where the defendant is
subsequently convicted to the rise of extra cost of court fee. In Crowns court, the fee has
increased since before. This increased charge of prosecution has made it very difficult for the
lower income group to seek justice (Osthoff et al., 2016). The collision of the increasing
Criminal Court Charge is also the reason why organisers of legal campaign must ensure they
seek for legal support in their protests.

Conclusion
The judicial system of the United Kingdom must act independent of the existing government and
should not delay in serving justice. The magistrates and judges must be appointed in accordance
to their efficiency and no other outside influence must play a role in it. Judiciary must remain
impartial and the offenders must be given the rightful legal sentences. Establishing a fair judicial
system will bring vast growth in the administration of justice in the country.

Reference List
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