criminal court processes Flashcards by Chloe Holder

What are Magistrates Courts for?

-Summary and either-way offences

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What are the Crown Courts for?

-Either-way fences and indictable only offences

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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What does presumption of innocence mean?

-Innocent until proven guilty

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What does burden of proof mean?

-Prosecution has the responsibilty to prove that the defendant is guilty

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What does exclusion of illegal evidence mean?

-Fruit of poisonous tree
-Only admissible evidence can be used

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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)

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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

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What does guilty plea mean?

-Defendant pleads guilty
-Means no trial
-May be give lower sentence e.g. rape to sexual assault

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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