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Summary Public Services - Understanding the legal system - M1
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Directly from my public services course which I achieved maximum marks in, this covers M1 of the understanding the legal system module
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Compare the roles and function of paid and lay personnel within the court system of England andWales
When comparing paid and lay personnel it is first important to distinguish the two from one another
and briefly explain what they do and the function that they serve in the court system. Paid personnel
in the court system are individuals who are fully involved in the system and have crucial roles in
allowing it to function. These include judges, lawyers, barristers and similar roles. These individuals
are responsible for presenting both sides of an argument and try to ensure that the trial is fair by
giving everyone a say, some like judges will have powers and usually decide upon final sentencing or
if the case needs to proceed to a higher court. Lay personnel in the court system usually refers to the
individuals who make up the jury in the majority of courts and occasionally will be specialist advisers
for paid personnel and may be important when trying to come to a verdict, as the jury usually has
finally say over guilt Lay personnel whilst being less crucial to allowing the court system to work they
keep it from becoming unfair and close minded and provide a way in which citizens can engage their
peers and pass judgement upon them.
Paid personnel have to argue for the accused or to get the accused convicted, as well as determine
the level of guilt and the appropriate action that needs to taken afterwards. The court tries to restrict
the actions that aid personnel can take and sets rules, regulations and tariffs to do so. This way they
try to prevent miscarriages of justice and ensure that there is a standard followed by all courts. For
example this prevents judges from under sentencing or over sentencing a convicted individual. Those
same rules, regulations etc... Have aims and set the precedent that the paid personnel must follow.
The idea is to carry through government policy and national values into the process. Currently
punishments are dealt out so they are proportional to the crime, similar to other decisions made so
that a certainty of punishment is created thus deterring potential criminals from committing that
same crime, that there is publicity further increasing deterrence and making sure that the
punishment is dealt promptly. This is an example of the current government’s policy and national
values being used as guidelines for the courts set down by rules and regulations. If there was a
different government those rules may be different, e.g. a fascist government would have much more
of a cut and dry system that dealt harsh punishment to all offenses. Similarly should national values
be different then punishments may be different e.g. in many Muslim countries punishments are still
given on the opinion that the Koran gives, chopping off hands for theft and similar. So whilst there is
a lot of rules and regulations that must be followed to ensure a fair trial and restrict the powers they
have the paid personnel have much more power and responsibility then lay personnel and cannot
afford themselves the luxury of pre made opinions and have to consider much more than lay
personnel. As they accept the role they have in the court system and the powers and responsibilities
that come with them they have a pay and this is another major distinction, the simple fact that these
are full time employed personnel not just volunteers and that they get paid. This doesn’t even
account for all the legal training and experience that paid personnel have, giving them an ability to
access a case fairly and accurately.
Lay personnel on the other hand do not have the same experience and will not have the training or
legal background that the paid personnel have. However they do have their own backgrounds and
experiences and in a jury this will mean (hopefully) that there are many different experiences and
backgrounds that will allow the jury to come to a fair verdict on the case. This also a way of including
the public in the system and giving them a feeling of involvement in an otherwise closed system. This
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