New magistrates now undergo a much more rigorous and formalised training programme and are mentored by an experienced magistrate to ensure that by the end of the initial training period they have the skills and competences required to sit, in the first place, as a winger in court. Again, new magistrates must be formally appraised to ensure that they are 'fit' to sit. If they are not competent in any particular area, then they will be re-trianed. If they remain incompetent, then they will not be allowed to sit and would be asked to resign. As with technology and the wit of man, the modern magistrate has moved with the times.
Magistrates come from all sorts of backgrounds.
A bench of magistrates may be composed of doctors, teachers, housewives, the unemployed, students, business men and women, skilled, semi- and unskilled workers, graduates and the unqualified, the professionals and the craftsmen. They will come from across the spectrum of socio-economic groupings and represent the full rainbow of political and social views. I do swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth the Second in the office of Justice of the Peace, and that I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill will. So help me God. Some people apply to become a magistrate, perhaps following local advertising, while others will be approached to consider whether they might apply.