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The public image of judges has been stuck in a time warp; they are
invariably depicted in the media - and derided in public bars up
and down the country - as 'privately educated Oxbridge types',
usually 'out-of-touch', and more often than not as 'old men'. These
and other stereotypes - the judge as a pervert, the judge as a
right-wing monster - have dogged the judiciary long since any of
them ceased to have any basis in fact. Indeed the limited research
that was permitted in the 1960s and 1970s tended to reinforce
several of these stereotypes. Moreover, occasional high profile
incidents in the courts, elaborated with the help of satirists such
as 'Private Eye' and 'Monty Python', have ensured that the 'old
white Tory judge' caricature not only survives but has come to be
viewed as incontestable. Since the late 1980s the judiciary has
changed, largely as a result of the introduction of training and
new and more transparent methods of recruitment and appointment.
But how much has it changed, and what are the courts like after
decades of judicial reform? Given unprecedented access to the whole
range of courts - from magistrates' courts to the Supreme Court -
Penny Darbyshire spent seven years researching the judges,
accompanying them in their daily work, listening to their
conversations, observing their handling of cases and the people who
come before them, and asking them frank and searching questions
about their lives, careers and ambitions. What emerges is without
doubt the most revealing and compelling picture of the modern
judiciary in England and Wales ever seen. From it we learn that not
only do the old stereotypes not hold, but that modern 'baby boomer'
judges are more representative of the people they serve and that
the reforms are working. But this new book also gives an
unvarnished glimpse of the modern courtroom which shows a legal
system under stress, lacking resources but facing an
ever-increasing caseload. This book will be essential reading for
anyone wishing to know about the experience of modern judging, the
education, training and professional lives of judges, and the
current state of the courts and judiciary in England and Wales.
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