Custodial sentences are more likely to be given in cases heard by a district judge than lay magistrates, according to research commissioned by the Ministry of Justice. The study, published this week and carried out by Ipsos MORI, shows that district judges gave custodial sentences in 7% of cases, while lay benches used custody in 4% of cases. District judges were more likely to remand on conditional or unconditional bail (both 12%) than magistrates (8% and 9% respectively); while magistrates were more likely to give a financial penalty (37%) than district judges (29%). read more