2.3.1 Increasing diversity
The judiciary is becoming more diverse in terms of age, sex and ethnicity. Activity 5 considers judicial diversity in more depth.
Activity 5 Judicial diversity
You have seen the statistics for the sex, age and ethnicity of judges. What other kinds of diversity do you think might be important?
Comment
You might have mentioned disability, gender identity, sexuality, religion, education, or social class. There are concerns about all these forms of diversity among the judiciary, but as you saw earlier, there is less information about these.
What do you think the most important benefits of greater diversity are?
Comment
The first woman Supreme Court judge, Baroness Hale, gave the following reasons why judicial diversity matters (Hale, 2017):
Did you think of any others?
In the next section you will look at the police, who are part of the wider criminal justice system.