... within the magistrates court. 97% of crimes are dealt this way and they can sentence up to £5000 and/or 6 months imprisonment. They work free of charge for the country by giving up at least 26 days of service in court, and must fall within the age range of 21-60, there is also a training scheme where new magistrates receive around 40 hours training which is undertaken by the clerk, and preparation time given each year. They are not legally qualified and usually live locally within 15 miles of the court to identify with the cases, and are advised by qualified clerks who have been in practise for at least 5 years. They mainly consist of middle aged, middle class professional people with a good character. The committee aims to achieve a good balance of age, race, gender on the bench within that area statistics show 47% of these are ...

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