Sitting in Judgment: The Working Lives of Judges

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 Tory-voting 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 1960s and 70s 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