On Monday 3 April, the day the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, became head of the judiciary in England and Wales, a new website was launched representing the judiciary of England and Wales.
www.judiciary.gov.uk was built by the Judicial Communications Office’s web team. The Office was set up last year to provide communications support to the more than 40,000 judicial office-holders in England and Wales.
The site aims to inform the public about the work judges do and, over a period of time, will attempt to dispel such perceived views as judges are out of touch with most people's lives and are inclined towards soft sentences. It contains a mix of statistical and educational information in five sections:
- About the judiciary - contains a wide range of information about the judiciary. Users can learn more about the roles, responsibilities and powers of the different members of the judiciary. They can read about a day in the life of a judge, or find out about the history of court dress.
There's also information on the history of the judiciary, the importance of judicial independence and how the changes brought about by the 2005 Constitutional Reform Act affect the judiciary.
- Key facts - provides key facts about the judiciary and includes information on the legal year, judicial biographies and numbers of judicial postholders.
- Learning resources - an inter-active area where users can try their hand at sentencing or test their judicial knowledge with quizzes.
- Judgments and guidance - does pretty much what it says on the tin. In here, users are able to access the latest court judgments, as well as some of the legal directions handed down by judges. There's also some useful information on sentencing, explaining how judges take particular decisions in this complex area.
- Publications and media - judges are often asked for their views by the Government when consulting on a new set of proposals. Whilst judges do not get involved in politics, it is entirely legitimate for them to offer views on the likely impact on the courts of proposed legislation or policies. They set out their views either in formal consultation responses, or when delivering speeches. A wide variety is covered, from commenting on important constitutional changes, to offering views on the use of technology in the courts.
“We want the site to be of interest to students in particular,” said Mike Wicksteed, head of judicial communications. “To that end we’ve incorporated an inter-active learning resource area where users can try their hand at sentencing or quiz themselves.
“We’ve tried to make the site look and feel as least like a government website as possible.
“In a filmed interview in the Learning Resources section the Lord Phillips gives legal correspondent Marcel Berlins his views on a range of issues. Judges, magistrates and tribunal judiciary have contributed ‘day in the life’ diaries.
“It’s early days yet,” Wicksteed said, “and my web team worked very hard to ensure that there was a significant volume of relevant and interesting content available for launch.
“All comers are most welcome. In particular we are looking for users’ comments – about where it works well, where less so and suggestions for new topics. Let us know with an email to: website.enquiries@judiciary.gsi.gov.uk”
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