Judges 'need to build confidence'

Courts play a vital role in society, says Lord Woolf

The Lord Chief Justice has urged judges to do more to tackle a decline in public confidence in the judicial system.

Lord Woolf said he wants to see judges going into schools to explain the role of the courts in society.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lord Woolf said the courts were under more media scrutiny than ever before, and this may have led to a decline in public confidence in the judicial system.

Lord Woolf stressed that he believed judges in England and Wales were among the best in the world, but said it was "critically important" to contribute to increasing public confidence in the system.

Lord Woolf: Education is critically important

Lord Woolf said: "What I believe is critically important to do is to contribute to increasing publics confidence in the system.

"Should judges have a responsibility to explain their role, what the courts are about, as part of the education system?"

He said there had been an "overwhelming reaction" from judges when he had asked if they would like to get involved in a programme with schools.

Lord Woolf said: "I think, just as the police are getting much better at going into schools, so we've got a message because we play a very important part in society."

He said that legislation to tackle anti-social behaviour was ineffective without the support of schools.

Lord Woolf said: "When I was growing up, I could be disruptive, I could be what I would call a nuisance, but my educational system dealt with me, it didn't reject me."

"I feel the education system in the country is all-important, and if we could get that right, so much else would get right."