Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates

Association (UK) Ltd

Company Secretary

Dr W. G. McCarney, OBE, JP
175, Andersonstown Road
Belfast BT11 9EA
Northern Ireland

Tel: +44 28 90 615164

E-mail: w.mccarney@btconnect.com

Dr Willie McCarney, OBE, JP

Dr McCarney was a Lay Magistrate in Northern Ireland for 33 years. He sat in the Youth Court dealing with young offenders aged 10 to 17 and in the Family Proceedings Court dealing with children in need of care and protection aged 0 to 17.

Dr McCarney is a Justice of the Peace for the City of Belfast.

He is a psychologist who taught for 13 years in Secondary Schools in Northern Ireland where he concentrated on working with disaffected, underachieving, boys aged 11-18 years old. He then moved to St Mary’s College, a Department of the Queens University of Belfast, which concentrates on teacher training. He lectured there for 21 years and his task was to show future teachers how informal teaching methods could help disaffected young people, preventing them from dropping out of school and keep them from getting on the wrong side of the law.

He has edited a number of books and is author of numerous articles on youth justice and child welfare. He was Editor of the Northern Ireland Lay Magistrates’ Association’s Magazine for 26 years and Editor-in-Chief of the Chronicle – the magazine of the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates for 16 years.

He is a past Chairman of the Northern Ireland Lay Magistrates’ Association and a past Chairman of the British Juvenile and Family Courts Society (now renamed Children Law UK). He was elected President of the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates at their Congress in Melbourne, Australia, in October 2002 and served until the following Congress which was held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in August 2006.

Dr McCarney serves as an expert on children’s rights with UNICEF, UNDP and the Council of Europe. His main involvement is in judicial training in developing nations.