Page 11 - Judicial Diversity Update report

Why diversity matters

1.8. As we set out in Increasing Judicial Diversity, the case for judicial diversity
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and why it was important is a matter of legitimacy, quality and fairness.
However, given the fragility of progress made since 2017 and decreased
urgency with which the issue of diversity is approached, we believe it is
important to restate what is at stake should we fail to affect real change.

1.9. Achieving diversity is vital to ensure the legitimacy of the judiciary in the eyes
of the public, and especially the trust of court users. The absence of judges
from certain groups threatens to erode the public’s confidence in the judiciary.
As Lady Hale explained:

People should be able to feel that the courts of their country are ‘their’
courts, there to serve the whole community, rather than the interests of a
narrow and privileged elite. They should not feel that one small section of
society is dictating to the rest. These days, we cannot take the respect of the
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public for granted; it must be and be seen to be earned.

1.10. Additionally, the Lammy Review into outcomes for BAME individuals in the
criminal justice system cites the gulf between the backgrounds of defendants
and judges as a fundamental source of mistrust in the system among BAME

2 Lady Hale, Dame Heather Hallett, Lord Neuberger, Sir Terence Etherton and Lord Burnett, to name
but a few: See, Lady Hale, Women in the Judiciary, The Fiona Woolf Lecture for the Women Lawyers’
Division of the Law Society, June 2014, p.4, available at https://www.supremecourt.uk/docs/speech-
140627.pdf; Dame Heather Hallett DBE, Independence under threat?, Bentham Association
Presidential Address, March 2012, available online at
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/sites/laws/files/hallett_12.pdf; Lord Neuberger, The Role of the Supreme
Court Seven Years On – Lessons Learnt; Sir Terence Etherton, Challenges facing the judiciary in the
next Parliament, UCL Conference at the Institute for Government, June 2015, available online at
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/speech-by-sir-etherton-challenges-facing-the-
judiciary-in-next-parliament.pdf; Lord Burnett, A changing judiciary in a modern age, Courts and
Tribunals Judiciary, February 2019, available online at
https://www.judiciary.uk/announcements/speech-by-the-lord-chief-justice-a-changing-judiciary-in-a-
modern-age/
3 Lady Hale, Judges, Power and Accountability: Constitutional Implications of Judicial Selection speech
at Constitutional Law Summer School Belfast, August 2017, p.4, available online at:
https://www.supremecourt.uk/docs/speech-170811.pdf.
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