To think people going to court should dress appropriately and that doesn't include sports wear

[PrincessScrumpy]

Seeing the news footage of many of those involved in the riots leaving court left me baffled. I've never been to court, however, I would assume that a smart suit would be the most appropriate item to wear. Am I alone in thinking that turning up in tracksuit bottoms, a football shirt and trainers is not going to get the magistrate on side and looks like you don't care?

YANBU, even if they haven't got a suit they could at least put a clean ironed shirt on and borrow a tie from somewhere

As I said earlier, what the defendant wears makes no difference, and with all due respect to others on this thread we are now so trained that were a magistrate going to make a judgement that was affected by the appearance of he defendant she/he would be jumped on by the other two hard: at least on our Bench. The world, thank God has changed enough that putting on a suit in order to pretend to be respectable is not necessary! Having said that, we do get young defendants who have made a big effort with their clothes in order to look like they are taking it seriously, and that will be backed up by what they say in court.

Very good posts snippy, you are making an extremely valid point.

I'm not saying that it's right, merely that it does make a difference if you put in effort to be respectful and show that you care about what happens to you.

by wearing smart clothes, i suspect it shows that the person has shown remorse.

I don't think it was so much the difference in our clothing as in our countenances. I looked scared and very, very sorry to be there. The next people waiting to go in looked like they didn't give a fuck that they were in court. I don't know what happened to them but I assume looking like you don't care if you're back before the magistrates again next week does affect the outcome of your case. It just really shocked me that they were so casual about being there. I would never sit nonchalantly with my feet up while waiting to go into court!

I agree with Reindeer - it has become useful way to tell solicitors and clients apart. Although I think solicitors' standards are slipping as well - during my last big case in July, one of the other female solicitors didn't wear a suit jacket on a single occasion during the two week case. I was

Much much worse than tracksuits at court is the proliferation of babies and prams at court. I foster a naive belief that becoming a parent kick-starts a latent desire to better oneself... it doesn't.