Changes in Magistrates' Attitudes During the First Year on the Bench (From Psychology, Law and Legal Processes, P 125-142, 1979, by D P Farrington, et al - See NCJ - 70738

• NCJ Number: 70743
• Author(s): R A Bond; N F Lemon
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Humanities Press, Inc.
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Preliminary findings are reported from a longitudinal study that evaluated British magistrates' training and changes in their penal philosophy and sentencing over the first year on the bench.

Abstract

The study, begun in early 1975, followed the experiences of a cohort of newly-appointed magistrates in three counties selected to represent different regions of the country and include urban and rural benches. In order to distinguish the effects of the training program from those due to experience gained form serving on the bench, the Lord Chancellor's office agreed to voluntary deferral of training for a group of magistrates, so they could be compared with a group that received training normally. In order to assess changes produced by the first year's bench experience, each participating magistrate was asked to nominate someone from his jurisdiction who was not a magistrate but similar to himself/herself in other ways. This group on non-magistrates was administered the same questionnaires on two occasions, both shortly after they had been completed by the magistrates, so that changes unconnected with experience as a magistrate could be assessed and controlled for. The results suggest that magistrates' initial views are susceptible to influence from training and experience, although background factors are still related to differences in viewpoints, and these differences are likely to persist through experience and training. Experience and training are most likely to induce changes in views on procedural aspects of a magistrate's work and on sentencing matter, while views on penal philosophy and policy are likely to reamin unchanged by training and experience. The perpetuation of patterns of decisionmaking in the same jurisdictions may thus be due more to the selection of magistrates with views similar to those serving than to the training and socializing experience on the bench. Tabular data, notes, and 18 references are provided. For related documents, see NCJ70738-42 and 70743-48.