History Society

Date: Monday 10 November 2008

This evening the members of the Senior School History Society met for the first time this year to welcome Mr Philip Lacamp, the husband of one of the School's governors, who had offered his services to explain the role and importance of the 'Justice of the Peace', where he has considerable years of experience. This was hoped to be of particular benefit to those Sixth Formers thinking of pursuing a career in the law.

And so it proved to be. Mr Lacamp began his presentation with a brief history of the magistracy in England, which dates back to the reign of Richard I in 1195, and only included women magistrates from 1919; he then gave an equally brief but highly informative explanation of the sentencing policies as applied by the 'bench' - incorporating financial punishments, community service, and custodial sentences. Apparently, the magistracy deals with 97 per cent of all crime in this country, and in Sittingbourne, 45 per cent of all those who appear before the bench cannot write their own names!

The society members then broke up into small groups to discuss imaginary cases, and how they might be dealt with by the three-person tribunals which hear them. All the cases involved youth crime, and generated a wide range of occasionally controversial views from our trainee magistrates, who were strongly reminded that most of the cases involved members of not an 'underclass', but a very underprivileged class, for whom sympathy should be shown, and to whom constructive help should be offered.

A number of questions from the floor confirmed that 21 year olds might apply to sit on the bench - but would certainly be turned down at that age! And that misdemeanours of the past would not lead to being debarred, provided that they were declared on application. But woe betide any magistrate caught speeding!

This was an excellent evening - perfect balance, plenty of variety, and lots of apposite anecdotes. Thank you, Mr Lacamp!