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Article: Common sense? You don't need that to be a magistrate now; Falconer's bureaucrats rewrite the guidelines for choosing new JPs.
- Article from:
- Daily Mail (London)
- Article date:
- June 19, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: MATTHEW HICKLEY
WITH the 28,000 magistrates in England and Wales dealing with two million cases a year, the ability to use their common sense would seem to be a vital quality.
But not any more.
According to official guidelines, new JPs no longer have to show such an attribute to the selection committee.
Common sense is, say Government officials, too subjective a test for multicultural Britain because it ' means different things to people from different backgrounds'.
The extraordinary decision comes from the department run by Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs.
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