criminal court processes Flashcards
What are Magistrates Courts for?
-Summary and either-way offences
What are the Crown Courts for?
-Either-way fences and indictable only offences
What are the 4 Appeal courts in the English Court System?
-Crown Court
-Court of Appeal
-High Court of Justice, Kings Bench Division
-UK Supreme Court
What is the process of appealing against conviction/sentence from Magistrates Court?
1 - Summary/either way offences are tried
2 - Defendant isn’t happy about outcome
3 - Appeal to Crown Court
4 - Crown Court holds a new trial
5 - Defendant may receive harsher sentence after new trial
What is the process of appealing against conviction/sentence from Crown Court?
1 - Either way/indictable offences are tried
2 - Prosecution and defence can appeal to Court of Appeal
3 - Review court decision, no new trial and new evidence will only be considered in certain circumstances
4 - Crown Court holds new trial
5 - Defendant may receive harsher sentence after new trial
What would happen if appealing went down the ‘Appeal by case started’ route?
-When the appeal isn’t around the conviction or sentence received but is instead about a point of law
What would happen if appealing went down the ‘Judicial Review’ route?
-When a complainant thinks a public body decision is unlawful and has infringed their rights
-Judge(s) reviews decision made by Government/Public Authority
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is incorporated into UK Law…
-Article 8 - Right to private and family life
-Article 5 - Right to liberty and freedom
-Article 2 - Right to life
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is not part of the EU…
-Article 10/11 - Right of free expression/ Freedom of assembly and association
-Article 6 - Right to a fair trial
-Article 3 - Protection from discrimination/right to equality
What does presumption of innocence mean?
-Innocent until proven guilty
What does burden of proof mean?
-Prosecution has the responsibilty to prove that the defendant is guilty
What does exclusion of illegal evidence mean?
-Fruit of poisonous tree
-Only admissible evidence can be used
What does Right to Silence mean?
-Jurors can draw adverse inference from silence
-If you remain quiet to begin with and then decide to speak up on the day of the trial etc.
-Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994)
What does guilty beyond reasonable doubt mean?
-Jurors/Judge have to be sure that they are guilty
-Can only use lawfully obtained evidence to prove this
What does guilty plea mean?
-Defendant pleads guilty
-Means no trial
-May be give lower sentence e.g. rape to sexual assault
What is the process for prosecution in an Adversarial Trial?
1 - Prosecution presents case
2 - Prosecution witnesses
3 - Cross examined by defense lawyer
What does prosecution have to do (what is their role) ?
-Prove case beyond reasonable doubt
-Extremely high standards
What is the process for defence in an Adversarial Trial?
1 - Defence presents case
2 - Defence witnesses
3 - Cross examined by prosecutor
What does defence need to do (what is their role) ?
-Create doubt in judge or jurors mind
-Relatively easy
-Ask leading questions to get a certain answer
What professionals are within a Magistrates Court in a summary trial?
-Lay magistrates - unpaid volunteers, sit in benches of 3
-Justice Clerk - legally trained professionals who advise the lay magistrates
-District judge - qualified and paid lawyer who sits alone
What are the 6 core requirements for being a lay magistrates ?
(apart from being 18-65 on appointment)
-Good character
-Understanding and communication
-Social awareness
-Maturity and sound temperament
-Sound judgement
-Commitment and reliability
What is the overall process of a caee throughout the courts?
-All criminal proceedings start at Magistrates Court
-Hold pre-trial hearings to see if there’s a guilty plea
-Decide if case should stay at Magistrates or go to Crown Court
What is the maximum sentence that Magistrates Court can give?
-6 months imprisonment maximum
-Temporarily increased to 1 year by Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022, but changed back soon after
What percentage of cases are heard in a Magistrates Court?
-95%
What are the justifications for Magistrates Courts?
-Cost-efficient solution
-Relaxed rules
-Speedy justice
-Lay magistrates bring local community values and concerns into CJS
-Lay magistrates have more connections to the real world
-Diverse group compared to judges
What professionals make up a Crown Court?
-Jury - 12 individuals nominated by Electoral Register, make decision on matters of facts
-Judges - make decision on matters of law
What are the justifications for a jury trial?
-Bring humanising element into trial process
-Brings democratic element by being representatives of general public
-Defiance of law ‘jury equity’ can be used
-Jury restricts powers of professionals who would normally dominate CJS
According to the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, what can’t jury’s do?
-Can’t undertake any research during trial period to gain info
-It’s a criminal offence for a juror to share info that they have obtained with another juror
According to the Criminal Justice Act 2003, who can serve as jurors?
-Prior to this act; judges, magistrates, lawyers, police officers, probation etc. couldn’t serve as jurors
-This was then abolished, and are now eligible to serve
-Can lead to appeals and think jurors are biased
How many of the jury need to agree to reach a verdict?
-10/12 jurors
Why are jury trials fair and more beneficial?
-Presence of professional judge
-To be ‘tried’ by peers shows sympathy and jury equity
-Both sides have to try harder to win, reduces chance of wrongful conviction
How does the English law give defendants who are tried at Magistrates some compensation?
-Can appeal, normally prosecution can’t
-If appeal, Crown Court hold a new trial
-If charged with either-way, they can opt for either Magistrates or Crown Court
** What is meant by ‘effective participation’?
-Right of any defendant to take an active part in their trial
-Have a broad understanding of the trial process
-Be able to put facts forward in their defence
** Why is ‘effective participation’ hard to reach in a Magistrates Court?
-Lack of trial of facts hearing, whereas they hold one in Crown Court
-Unfitness to plead test
-Magistrates Court lacks structure
**What other agencies may contribute to this?
-Police may not be identifying any mental illnesses due to lack of resources, time and training
-People may be unfit to be interviewed however they are interviewed anyway
-CPS uses public interest test, if mental illness is involved then there will be no public interest to prosecute
