In this essay I will address the need for greater diversity within the judiciary of England and Wales. The judiciary of England and Wales currently consists of 3621 judges, of which only 24.3% are women, 77% are white and 79% over the age of 50.[1] This is clearly unrepresentative of the general population of the UK which is a very diverse culture. We take it as a given that no-one should be prevented from becoming a judge merely by reason of their sex, race, religion or other protected characteristic as defined in the Equality Act 2010. Freedom from discrimination is a basic principle of fairness and equality which is enshrined in law.[2]
In 1995, 80 per cent of Lords of Appeal, Heads of division, Lord Justices of Appeal and High Court judges were educated at Oxford or Cambridge and over 50 per cent of the middle ranking circuit judges went to Oxbridge but only 12 per cent of the lower-ranking district judges did.[3]
Having judges from only public school and Oxbridge backgrounds puts the English Legal System at a disadvantage as these judges may be unaware of the problems in disadvantaged backgrounds and may discriminate defendants because of this, leading to unfair trials. The majority of judges come primarily from the Bar, a profession itself dominated by white men from privileged social backgrounds.[4] This then has a direct effect on the judiciary as the pool for choosing candidates is already very narrow. There is currently only one female Supreme Court judge, Lady Hale. Since her appointment 10 years ago, 13 new judges were promoted to her level, none of which were women.[5] This is disappointing as there has clearly been many opportunities for women to be promoted up to the senior positions within the judiciary yet this is not the case. Lady Hale added that In a democracy it is important that rights and responsibilities be decided by a judiciary more