Lay judicial officers

This module includes two videos featuring JPPF judicial education advisor, Sir David Carruthers as he discusses the Aotearoa/New Zealand Youth Justice system. It includes a discussion with Sergeant Jason Evans from the NZ Police and covers the principles underlying the work of the police and judiciary and provides examples of successful early intervention.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module participants will:

• Consider accountability of young people based on knowledge about brain development and age
• Consider the underlying causes of offending for young people who come before them
• Involve and harness the strengths of whanau and the wider community to improve outcomes for young offenders
• Promote victims’ involvement and interests
• Employ a system-wide, team approach to youth justice
• Look for alternatives to young people appearing in the justice system and heading to prison, i.e keeping young people away from court and diverting them once they are there
• Recognise effective youth justice activities happening in their own country
• Use judicial discretion to look for better outcomes for young people that appear before the courts
• Support young offenders and their families through judicial leadership, such as:
  • influencing future decisions by police by appropriate questioning and ‘judicial encouragement’;
  • initiating cross-sector discussions to move to a better system-wide approach.

JPPF developed a week-long programme for lay judicial officers in 2018. This has been delivered in several countries. It is a practical programme, where participants can practise making and delivering decisions on a variety of matters, including defended hearings in criminal, civil and family, bail decisions and sentencing. 

This training module covers bail decisions, defended criminal hearings, evidence and sentencing. Featuring a series of videos and power point presentations, templates and exercises, local judges and facilitators can tailor this programme as needed. We have produced a template to help you in the decision-making process and in the accompanying videos our judicial education advisors discuss the templates and explore the factors judicial officers need to consider when coming to a decision. 

We have not published all the model answers here. If you wish to conduct training using these resources (or are working through them yourself and wish to see the model answers) please contact us.  We can assist you to tailor the materials to your jurisdiction and audience, and provide further facilitator notes.

This training module covers what it is to be a judicial officer: What the judicial oath means and the 'dos and don'ts' of the role.

The module is best worked through with others, in order and over a series of sessions.  The resources have been designed to be completed in a lunch hour or short evening session. But you can also dip into any of the resources by yourself at any time. Discussion questions will help you to tease out the specific issues you might encounter and what to do about them as you go.

Some judicial oaths don't include the specific wording we have followed but many do. The module covers universal principles for judicial officers in democratic common law countries and the principles are important even if your judicial oath doesn't mention them specifically. There are likely to be different issues that arise in your country. If you have questions about any of the content, please discuss with your colleagues and head of bench.

A lot has been written about the judicial role and we encourage you to search for other resources. 

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, participants will:

• Better understand the requirements of the judicial role in terms of independence, impartiality, transparency, diligence and ethical conduct, both on the bench and in their personal lives
• Build their ability to assess professional and personal risks and benefits of various actions, interactions and involvement in activities, both in court and in their personal lives
• Gain more insight into the personal challenges facing judicial officers, their colleagues and their families, and how best to manage these challenges
• Understand the concepts of bias and conflict of interest in the judicial context and be able to identify situations that might constitute actual or perceived bias or conflicts of interest
• Make sound decisions as to whether or not it is appropriate to preside over cases where there might be an actual or perceived bias or conflict of interest, and what to do about that
• Appreciate the diversity of the community and access to justice issues that result, and understand that treating all people the same results in inequitable outcomes
• Have an awareness of resources available for guidance if required.