Criminal Courts

• What are the criminal courts designed to do?

  Uphold laws which forbid certain types of behaviour
• What are two key criminal courts of first instance?

  Magistrates' Court

  Crown Court
• What are the three key criminal processes in the criminal courts' system?

  Being charged with a crime

  Trial in the Magistrates' Court/Crown Court

  Crown Prosecution Service
• What is someone given when they are charged with a crime?

  A charge sheet
• What is on a charge sheet?

  An outline of the offence(s)
• What do the police decide after charging someone with a crime?

  Whether the person can go home until the trial or are kept in custody until taken to court
• What is the rebuttable presumption for bail?

  Bail should be granted
• Where is the rebuttable presumption for bail within?

  s4 of the Bail Act 1976
• Who can bail be issued by?

  The police or any court
• When might bail be issued by the police?

  In the case of low-level offences
• How long will bail remain in place?

  Until their court hearing
• When can bail be refused?

  If there are sufficient grounds
• When might there be sufficient grounds for bail to be refused?

  If the defendant is a flight risk/danger to the public
• Bail can be refused upon arrest and granted later in court and vice versa
• What conditions can be applied to bail?

  Live at a particular address

  Do not contact certain people

  Give your passport to the police

  Report to a police station at specific, agreed times each week
• What does failing to comply with bail conditions mean?

  The suspect can be arrested again and remanded in prison until their court hearing
• What is remand?

  Where the accused will go to prison until their first hearing
• What percentage of all criminal cases are dealt with in a Magistrates' Court?

  97%
• What percentage of all criminal cases conclude in a Magistrates Court?

  90%
• What are the key functions of the Magistrates' Court?

  Trying summary offences and most either-way offences

  Sentencing defendants if found guilty

  Dealing with the first hearing of indictable offences

  Granting or refusing bail in summary and either-way trials

  Trying cases in the Youth Court
• How old are defendants in the Youth Court?

  10-17
• When was a system of Crown Courts established?

  1971
• Why was a system of Crown Courts established?

  To deal with those criminal cases not tried fully in the Magistrates' Court
• What type of offences do the Crown Courts deal with?

  The most serious, indictable offences and some either-way offences
• What can the Crown Courts also deal with?

  Appeals against a Magistrates' Court conviction/sentence and cases passed from the Magistrates' Court for trial/sentencing
• What does the Crown Court normally have?

  A jury that decides guilt

  A single judge who decides the sentence if a person is found guilty
• What is the Crown Prosecution Service responsible for?

  Prosecuting most criminal cases in England and Wales
• What does the Crown Prosecution Service do?

  Decides which cases are to be prosecuted

  Determines the most appropriate offences to charge the defendant with

  Prepares cases and presents them in court
• Under the Code for Crown Prosecutors, what is the two-fold test that determines whether the merits of the case mean a decision to prosecute is made?

  1 ) The evidential burden test

  2 ) The public interest stage test
• What is the evidential burden test?

  There must be sufficient evidence to prosecute
• What is the public interest stage test?

  The prosecution must be in the public interest
• What are some factors that would influence the CPS to prosecute?

  A premeditated decision to commit a crime

  Use of a weapon

  If the defendant was in a position of authority or trust

  Vulnerability of the victim

  The defendant has previous convictions