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BBC
December 18, 2013
Convicted criminals and recovered drug addicts should be allowed to become magistrates, according to an influential right-wing think tank.
Policy Exchange said reformed characters could bring “first-hand experience” to the role.
It also called for a 10-year limit on serving as a magistrate.
The Ministry of Justice said crimes did not disqualify people from being magistrates but they should be “people of integrity”.
There are currently about 30,000 magistrates across 330 courts in England and Wales.
Current rules stipulate that those convicted of serious crimes or a series of minor offences would be “unlikely” to be considered for the voluntary roles.
But Max Chambers from Policy Exchange said the system needed opening up “to those with first-hand experience of what addiction and the criminal justice system are really like”.
“In today’s world, whether you’re allowed to become a magistrate has got to be about more than whether you move in the same social circles as other magistrates,” he said.
He called for the guidelines to be changed to open up the positions to those who have avoided re-offending for five years and done voluntary work.
“Who better to help turn offenders around and make our streets safer than someone who’s been through it, come out the other side and is now making a positive contribution to society?” he asked.
