Oasis Restore secure school webinar
The Oasis Restore Secure School in Rochester opened last year to provide an alternative model for youth custody. The school cares for children aged 12-18 on remand or sentenced to custody and focuses on education and healthcare to support and steer children away from reoffending. Steve Chalke is the founder of the Oasis Charitable Trust, which was appointed to develop and run the school. Steve will tell us about the school, how things are going so far and his aspirations for the future as well as answering your questions. This webinar will be of interest to all magistrates and to those who it in the youth court in particular.
Living with drug dependency
Choose Life, a charity based in the northwest of England, uses the lived experience of recovered drug users to educate young people and professionals on the dangers of Class A drugs. Project manager, Steve Duffy MBE and project volunteers will give magistrates insights into the day-to-day world of someone addicted to drugs and some of the experiences they may have had before you see them in court.
Social media guidance for members
The Magistrates’ Association has written this short guide for members who use – or who want to use – social media. It aims to clarify the Judicial Office's updated guidance on using social media, originally issued in October 2024.
My first-hand experience of Pathfinder in Wales
The Magistrates’ Association (MA) welcomes the recent expansion of the Pathfinder Scheme in the family courts, but how these work may be unfamiliar to many. In this blog, Nick Haynes JP, a member of the MA’s family court committee, shares his first-hand experience of Pathfinder in Wales.
- Family court matters
Structural reforms needed to ensure timely justice, say magistrates
The Magistrates' Association has submitted its response to the review of the criminal courts.
- Adult court matters
- Wider justice system
- Youth court matters
Criminal courts review
The Magistrates’ Association welcomes this critical work to explore options and recommendations for reforming the criminal courts, ensuring cases are handled proportionately and efficiently. This response outlines our recommendations on how magistrates can contribute to court reforms, alleviating the strain on the crown court and ensuring justice is delivered swiftly and fairly to victims, witnesses, and defendants.
- Adult court matters
- Wider justice system
- Youth court matters
Pregnancy in prison
Janey and Sam from Level Up will join us to talk about their campaigning work with pregnant women and mothers with infants in prison. After the deaths of two babies inside women’s prisons in recent years, the NHS and prison ombudsman have ruled all pregnancies in prison as “high-risk” and the Royal College of Midwives have said prison is no place for a pregnant woman. This webinar will cover the first-hand experience of a woman who was in custody during her pregnancy and early part of her child’s life and offer guidance to magistrates about how to approach sentencing pregnant women.
Child exploitation with The Children’s Society
In our second webinar focused on the topic of child exploitation, Rosie Plummer from The Children’s Society’s Prevention Programme will provide a brief recap of what child exploitation is, then delve into some interactive case studies. These true-to-life scenarios will examine what exploitation may look like for children of different ages, genders and backgrounds. Rosie will be joined by Christopher Goard JP. Christopher has been a magistrate for 17 years and has completed a doctorate about how to identify child and adult victims of all forms of modern slavery. Christopher will use his research and experiences as a magistrate to outline the factors that influence modern slavery and share some common defendant characteristics to help magistrates identify victims in the courtroom. This partnership will give magistrates an insight into the experiences of both child and adult victims of exploitation.
Winter 2025 Bench update
This is a short report on the activities of the Magistrates’ Association (MA) on behalf of magistrates. Members can copy text from this PDF and use it in their own communications.
- Practicalities of being a magistrate
- Volunteer only
- Wider justice system
Are you and your members getting all our emails?
The MA emails its members to keep them up-to-date with the latest magistrate news and views, and details of upcoming events and webinars.
- Volunteer only
Latest updates for magistrates: January 2025
A selection of the latest news, publications and events from across the justice system.
- Family court matters
- Wider justice system
MA Award winners 2024
In November 2024 we held our annual general meeting, conference and award ceremony. There were ten awards up for grabs and, in this blog for our members, we share more details of who won what award, and how they achieved their success.
Annual general meeting and conference 2024
A look back at our 2024 conference. Our theme was “Solutions, not sticking plasters: fixing the long-term challenges in the justice system.”
Systems shift for our criminal courts
In this blog, Miranda Paris, Communications Officer at the Centre for Justice Innovation, argues that reviewing the Single Justice Procedure and improving how the court fine system works will help to make the justice system fairer and more effective for those in contact with it.
- Adult court matters
Guidelines for working with external partners
Sentencing Review must allow for more flexible options
The Magistrates' Association has submitted its response to the call for evidence to the government’s sentencing review. While we welcome this wide-ranging review, we’ve also raised some concerns.
- Adult court matters
- Wider justice system
Sentencing review
While we welcome this wide-ranging review, we have also raised some concerns. Our response argues for action in three key areas: the need for more constructive, flexible and creative sentencing options to be available; the capacity of the probation service to support more community-based options; and the availability of short custodial sentences.
- Adult court matters
- Wider justice system
3D printed weapons webinar
Stephanie Bevan, G4 Senior Officer at the National Crime Agency (NCA), will discuss the dangers of 3D printed firearms and ammunition, following the NCA's recent Amber Alert. Discover how these weapons are impacting the criminal justice system, what to look for in court, and the current limitations of legal frameworks.
Three MA members awarded in New Year Honours
Our members were recognised for their services to the administration of justice as magistrates.
- Practicalities of being a magistrate
- Wider justice system
Key takeaways for magistrates from our conference
There was important news for magistrates, on issues that we’ve long campaigned for, at our national conference which we held in November 2024. In this blog, exclusively for our members, we reveal what these are, including a commitment to look at magistrates' expenses.
- Adult court matters
- Family court matters
- Wider justice system