Product Description

When Trevor Grove was called up for Jury service he became so intrigued with the justice system that he wrote a successful book about it - The Juryman's Tale. Now he's joined the magistracy and gives a fascinating, funny and insightful account of just how the magistracy works at a time of great change. Lay magistrates deal with more than 95 per cent of all criminal cases in England and Wales, yet they are all volunteers, drawn from local communities, with no legal training or special qualifications, and are not paid a penny for what they do. Astonishingly little is known about what it is like to serve as a magistrate. (Each year 5,000 people apply to become magistrates; only 25 per cent are successful.) This book is the first for many years to shed light on the experience. Interweaving his own personal experience of becoming a magistrate in north London with general observations, relevant interviews and a little history, Trevor Grove takes us on a fascinating journey into this extraordinary and unique institution. He has visited courts all over the country to talk to magistrates and observe how crimes and criminals differ from region to region, and how the 'benches' dealing with them differ too. He has visited jails and Young Offenders' Institutions and he has interviewed all of the principal players, from the Lord Chief Justice and Home Secretary, to more integral characters such as justices' clerks, ushers, probation officers, local police and offenders. His journey uncovers a remarkable act of national faith in the good sense of ordinary people, which says a great deal more about the strength and health of our democracy than is sufficiently appreciated.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #309363 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Daily Telegraph 17th August 2002
"Grove’s enjoyable book reveals what justices actually do, what they are like, who they are, what irritates and inspires them."

Sunday Telegraph 18th August 2002
"gives a fresh, contemporary perspective on the work of the 30,000 lay magistrates"

The Times 21st August 2002
"interesting, lively and well written"

Customer Reviews

Fresh insight into the magistracy
I was fortunate enough to receive this book as a Christmas present from my son - admittedly after a strong hint that I would like to have it. I was glad that I found time to read it before I first sat on the Bench in January 2003.

By describing his own thoughts and feelings as he applied, was interviewed and appointed, undertook his training and then gained his first two years' experience on the Bench in north London, Trevor Grove performs an excellent service. His lively accounts of each stage in his development, from initial application to completing his probation, very much accorded with my own journey over the last year, so they served to reinforce what I am learning. Here is someone who has recently lived through his own novitiate - and survived.

The Magistrate's Tale is exceptionally well written, as one might expect from a professional journalist, who worked for The Spectator, Evening Standard, The Observer and The Daily Telegraph, and was Editor of The Sunday Telegraph. This is his second book. His first, The Juryman's Tale, was published by Bloomsbury in 1998, after he had been inspired by serving as a juror at the Old Bailey in a 64-day trial that involved the kidnap of a Greek shipping magnate and a $3,000,000 ransom. So impressed was he with that experience of the criminal justice system that he responded positively to the suggestion of a JP friend that he should apply to become a magistrate.

His account of observing magistrates before he completed his application included one case that grabbed his attention - that of a man found to be drunk in charge of his car, although he had been in the back seat...
As it happened, one of the "structured observations" in my training - the trial of a 'Not Guilty' case - was very similar. The only differences were that the sleeping driver was found at the wheel and the engine was running. That case was particularly interesting because the standard of proof was not "beyond reasonable doubt" but "the balance of probabilities". The burden of proof therefore shifted to the Defence, which sought to employ the statutory defence that, at the material time, there was no likelihood of the defendant driving or attempting to drive whilst in excess of the legal limit.

The Aldershot Bench took some 20 minutes to decide that, on the balance of probabilities, it was more likely than not that the defendant would have driven whilst unfit. Even so, although he had his clean driving licence endorsed with 10 penalty points, he must have been happy to get away with a £300 fine and £300 costs, rather than the disqualification that Grove claimed to be mandatory.

Grove's feelings on being sworn in also struck a chord because, like me, he was particularly impressed by the last part of the oath: "I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this Realm without fear or favour, affection or ill-will."
...The Magistrate's Tale is a fascinating mixture of history, endorsement of the magistracy in the 2001 review by Lord Justice Auld (who provides the foreword to Grove's book), visits to courts throughout the country, and revealing interviews, such as that with Sue Baring, chair of the British Institute of Human Rights, who started her 21 years as JP on the Winchester Bench in 1965.

Happily for a novice like myself, The Magistrate's Tale ends on an optimistic note. After all, no one wants to be joining a failing institution in its final throes...
I therefore recommend The Magistrate's Tale as a worthwhile addition to the bookshelves of candidate, new and even experienced JPs who want a fresh insight into the magistracy.

Informative and Funny
This book was an amusingly written account of what it's really like to be a JP - warts and all. The many tales of courtroom cases illustrated the vast range of crimes - some petty, some farcical, some sad - that the JP confronts. It also praised (quite rightly) the impartial and common sense approach to the dispensation of the law adopted by this unpaid and unsung body of upright citizens. In this respect the UK system is unique and this book comprehensively provides excellent advocacy for the profession.