Criminal Justice System - England and Wales

• What is the primary focus of criminology?

  Why people offend
• The High Court is part of the Scottish criminal justice system.
• From a governmental perspective, criminal justice is often conceived as a system with component
• The criminal justice system is designed to protect people from wrongful conviction.
• Purposes of sentencing according to the Sentencing Act 2020:

  1️⃣ Punishment of offenders

  2️⃣ Reduction of crime

  3️⃣ Reformation and rehabilitation

  4️⃣ Protection of the public

  5️⃣ Reparation to victims
• The police are considered the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system
• Police authority depends on public consent according to the Peelian Principles.
• Are police in England and Wales routinely armed?

  No
• The Crown Prosecution Service was established by the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985
• The Crown Prosecution Service is independent from the police and government.
• Steps in the prosecutorial decision-making process:

  1️⃣ Police collect evidence

  2️⃣ Evidence is handed to CPS

  3️⃣ CPS decides whether to charge
• What did the Lammy Review (2017) find regarding CPS charging decisions across ethnic groups?

  Broadly proportionate
• A guilty plea at the start of the trial results in a discount of 1/4
• What percentage of all cases are completed in the Magistrates' Court?

  95%
• Magistrates in the Magistrates' Court are paid volunteers.
• In the Crown Court, the jury deliberates in private
• To be eligible for jury service, a person must be aged between 18-75.
• What must every court follow when sentencing an offender according to the Sentencing Act 2020?

  Sentencing guidelines
• Match the type of sentence with its example:

  Custodial ↔️ Imprisonment

  Community ↔️ Probation

  Financial ↔️ Fine
• There are over 120 prisons in England and Wales.
• What does category ‘D’ in the prison system indicate?

  Lowest risk
• The National Probation Service was re-unified after being described as a policy disaster
• The HMI Inspectorate of Probation found that risk management was ‘inadequate’ in 2022/23.
• What is the underlying logic of Herbert Packer's crime control model?

  Repress criminal behaviour
• The majority of probation regions in England and Wales ‘require improvement’ according to the HMI Inspectorate of Probation
• The HMI Inspectorate of Probation found that probation services were understaffed with high staff turnover.
• The crime control model aims to contain and repress criminal behavior
• A defendant can appeal against sentence, conviction, or both
• A defendant cannot appeal if they pleaded guilty at the Magistrates’ Court.
• Appeals from the Magistrates’ Court to the High Court must occur within 21 days of the final determination.
• Appeals from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal are only permitted if the conviction was ‘unsafe’
• The Criminal Appeals Act 1968 states that the Court of Appeal shall allow an appeal if the conviction is deemed unsafe
• Match the example of unsafe conviction with its description:

  Defective summing up by judges ↔️ Failure to provide clear instructions to the jury

  Breach of Article 6 (1) ECHR ↔️ Denial of the right to a fair trial
• Mistakes by juries can be grounds for overturning a conviction under the Criminal Appeal Act 1907.
• The ‘lurking doubt’ test asks whether the court has a lingering doubt about the safety of the conviction
• Fresh evidence can be admitted by the Court of Appeal after a conviction if it is in the interests of justice.
• The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) was established in 1997 by the Criminal Appeal Act 1995
• The CCRC is operationally and constitutionally independent from the government.
• The CCRC uses the ‘real possibility’ test, which requires that there is a real possibility the conviction would not be upheld if referred to the CA
• In the case of R v Hamilton and others [2021], the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of 39 sub-postmasters.