Evaluate the extent to which judges are representative of society Essay Example

have shown they are more willing to challenge the government on key issues such as detention without trial. For example the Belmarsh Prison Case, where Home Secretary David Blunket wanted to detain suspected terrorists for three months without trial, but was unsuccessful as the judiciary believed it violated human rights.As well as the passing of the Human Rights Act 1998, Britain's union with Europe has had a big impact on judges through the increased use of a purposive approach to statuary interpretation. Joshua Rozenburg argues that bias in favour of the establishment will decrease due to the effects of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, which allows solicitor advocates to become a judge, offering a more varied background and making the courts more representative.In recent years there has been an improvement in the number of women in judicial posts, however the current figure stands at only 24.

9%. Up until 2004, when Lady Hale of Richmond was appointed, there had never been a female in the House of Lords. In the high court, only 9 out of 107 judges are female. Statistics such as these have aroused much controversy over sex discrimination within the legal system, with groups such as The Association of Women Barristers blaming these figures on the "old boys network".There have been slightly more women being appointed lower down on the judicial ladder than in in the past, particularly in the number of female recorders at around 20%. Lord Chancellor Jack Straw, has recently talked of plans to open judicial posts to part-timers in a bid to attract more females who might have childcare issues.

Another group in society which is underrepresented, is

that of ethnic minorities. The first ever High Court judge, Linda Dobbs, was appointed in 2004, but despite such improvements the current situation is still worrying, especially since the findings in the Macpherson Report. The report was conducted after there was a public uproar over an incident where a police officer had made the assumption that a black male stabbing victim was a criminal because of his skin colour. According to the report, ethnic minorities do not have faith in the criminal justice system and institutions such as the police force, courts and judges are all seen as "white".It is obvious that the appointments system needs an urgent overhaul if we are to start seeing any change in the future amongst the judiciary with regards to diversity in social class, gender and race. In 2001 the Judicial Appointments Committee was set up, but has thus far failed to adequately address the current problems and presently has no role in the making or recommending of appointments.

However, the current Constitutional Reform Bill proposes an Independent Judicial Appointments Commission which would aim to appoint a more socially diverse judiciary in the future. However, this new body would still only be able to make recommendations and would not have a role in the actual appointment of judges to the Supreme Court.Judges are generally old, middle classed men with a public school education. Whether they all think the same is debatable, but in terms of physically representing society it is clear that our current judiciary does not represent a vast part of the population including women and those in ethnic minorities.