Young offenders who plead guilty or are found guilty could have a Detention and Training Order placed on them as a sentence. These can be given to anyone aged between 12 and 17. The sentence can range from four months to two years. The sentence is divided into a period in custody and a period in the community under the supervision of the youth offending team. If the offence that the young person has committed means it will be heard at the Crown Court and the offence if committed by an adult could receive a sentence of 14 years or more.
Crown Court
The Crown Court was established by the Courts Act 1971. The Crown Court sits in around 92 locations in . The administration of the Crown Court is conducted through HM Courts Service. HM Courts Service is now divided into seven regions: Midlands, North East, North West, South East, South West, London and Wales. The Wales region was identified separately, having regard to the devolved legislative powers of the Welsh Assembly Government. The Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey, originally established by its own Act of Parliament, is part of the Crown Court, and is the venue at which many of the most serious criminal cases are heard.
The Crown Court carries out four principal types of activity: appeals from decisions of magistrates: sentencing of defendants committed from magistrates courts, jury trials, and the sentencing of those who are convicted in the Crown Court, either after trial or on pleading guilty. On average, defendants in custody face a waiting time of 13 weeks and 3 days. Those on bail experience greater delay, waiting on average 15 weeks and 4 days until their case is heard. Rather than speaking of a location at which the Crown Court sits, it is common practice to refer to any venue as a Crown court, e.g. Teesside Crown court.
The Crown Court also operates a tier system for its external centers that dictates the kind of work they are allowed to do. There are three tries of the Crown Court. The first tier deals with High Court civil matters, any kind of triable either way or indictable criminal offence and hears appeals from Magistrates Courts. The second tier deals with triable either way offences and indictable offences and hers from appeals form Magistrates Courts. The third tier deals only with class four offences and appeals.
County Court
There are about 230 County Courts, so that most major towns will have a court. The courts can try nearly all civil cases. The main types of cases are: all contract and tort claims (mainly Personal Jury) and all cases for the recovery of land.
The County Court can try small claims, fast track and multi- tack cases. In 2003, 1.5 million cases were started in the Country Court. Cases will nearly always be heard in open court and members of the public are entitled to attend, except where the case involved family matters. The whole hearing is more formal and many claimants and defendants will be represented, usually by a solicitor. The winner of a case may claim costs, including the cost of representation.
County Court matters can be lodged at a court in person, by post or via the internet in some cases through the County Court Bulk Centre. Cases are normally heard at the court having jurisdiction over the area where the defendant lives. Most matters are decided by a District Judge or Circuit Judge sitting alone.
County Court Judgments are recorded in the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines and in the defendant's credit records held by credit reference agencies. This information is used in consumer credit scores, making it difficult or more expensive for the defendant to obtain credit. In order to avoid the record being kept for years in the Register, the debt must be settled within 30 days after the date the County Court Judgement was served (unless the judgement was later set aside). If the debt was not fully paid within the statutory period, the entry will remain for six full years.
High Court
The High Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, but it also sits at “district registries” across England and Wales, which are usually located inside exiting Crown and County Court buildings. These district registries mean that High Court cases can be heard anywhere in the country without the necessity of going to London. The High Court is split into three divisions.
- Queen Bench Division - The Queen's Bench Division is one of the three divisions of the High Court. Sir Anthony May is President of the Queen's Bench Division. The work of the Queen's Bench Division consists mainly of claims for: damages in respect of personal injury, negligence, breach of contract, non-payment of a debt, and possession of land or property.
- Chancery Division - The Division is currently based at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand. The Head of Division is Sir Andrew Morritt. The areas of work that it deals with are: business and property related disputes, competition, general Chancery Claims etc.
- Family Division – The president of the Family Division is Sir Nicolas Wall. The Family Division deals with matters such as divorce, children, probate and medical treatment.
The procedure in the High Court is much more formal than the small claims track or County Court. The fist stage in this procedure is to issue a writ, which is drafted by a barrister or solicitor and is then served on the defendant. A writ is a document that is similar to a County Court summons and it is the most common from of starting an action in the High Court. The writ tells the defendant who the plaintiff is and why they are making a claim. If the defendant does not respond within 14 days, the judge may make a decision by default on behalf of the plaintiff. If the defendant intends to defend themselves against the claim, they must complete and return an acknowledgement of service from, which states their intention to defend. The defendant must then submit a document called a defence. This document answers the claims made by plaintiff and sets out any new facts the plaintiff did not know, or did not disclose. The plaintiff can then deny the defendants facts or reply to them in a document called reply.
Court of Appeal
Like the High Court, the Court of Appeal also sits within the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The Court of Appeal was set up by the Judicature Act 1873. This court has two divisions, criminal and civil, which hears from the lower courts within each structure.
- The civil division
If you have had a case heard at the County Court or High Court and wish to appeal the judge’s decision you may apply to the Court of Appeal Civil Division. You need permission to appeal in virtually all types of cases and in most cases the application for permission to appeal should (and in some cases must) be obtained from the judge whose order it is you are seeking to appeal against. The judge may refuse your request for permission to appeal, or it may be that you did not ask for permission to appeal at the end of the hearing. In either of these situations, you apply to the Court of Appeal and seek permission from a single judge. Your notice of appeal must be filed within four weeks of the decision that you wish to appeal against being made. However in the case of interim orders it is always worthwhile checking the rules as timescales may be shorter. It is possible to ask for permission to call fresh evidence, but you must provide details of the evidence and show not only that the evidence was not available at the time of the original trial, but also that this fresh evidence, if available, would have been likely to have altered the outcome of the trial. Lastly, the evidence must seem to be both truthful and admissible in court.
- Criminal Division
A defendant must launch his appeal within 14 days of the first instance trial. The rules on appeal are set out in the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 and in all cases; the defendant must get leave to appeal, so that cases which are without merit are filtered out. Even where a defendant gets leave to appeal that does not mean that actual will be successful. Leave to appeal will usually only be granted where the Court of Appeal believes the original conviction to be unsafe.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in the Anglo- Welsh legal system. The Supreme Court was established by Part 3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and started work on 1 October 2009. It is the highest court in the UK. There are twelve judges who sit in the Supreme Court, which is now completely separate from the Government and Parliament. Not all cases can go to the Supreme Court. There must be an arguable point of law, and the case needs to have ‘public importance’. The Supreme Court hears civil cases from all over the United Kingdom, and criminal cases from England, Wales.
In criminal proceedings, in order to go to the Supreme Court you must first seek permission from the Court of Appeal. This means that you must have had an appeal at the Court of Appeal in order to do this. The application can be made by either the prosecutor or the defendant. If you have already been to the Court of Appeal, the application is considered by the Court of Appeal and permission to go to the Supreme Court is either granted or refused. If it is refused, you can then renew the application at the Supreme Court in person. This hearing will determine whether you are entitled to have your case heard at the Supreme Court or not. It is also possible for the court to send a point of law of general public importance to the Supreme Court of its own volition. Only cases that have a point of law of general public importance can be heard at the Supreme Court.
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice is the highest court in the land to hear issues of European law brought by Member States. Since the UK joined the European Union in 1972, the UK must abide by all laws and directives that are passed by the EU.
The Court of Justice has only one judge per EU country. The Court is helped by eight advocates-general whose job is to present opinions on the cases brought before the Court. They must do so publicly and impartially. Each judge and advocate-general is appointed for a term of six years, which can be renewed. The governments of EU countries agree on whom they want to appoint. To help the Court of Justice cope with the large number of cases brought before it, and to offer citizens better legal protection, a ‘General Court’ deals with cases brought forward by private individuals, companies and some organisations, and cases relating to competition law.
The European Court of Justice has five main roles:
The five most common types of cases are: requests for a preliminary ruling – when national courts ask the Court of Justice to interpret a point of EU law. Actions for failure to fulfil an obligation – brought against EU governments for not applying EU law. Actions for annulment – against EU laws thought to violate the EU treaties or fundamental rights. Actions for failure to act – against EU institutions for failing to make decisions required of them. Direct actions – brought by individuals, companies or organisations against EU decisions or actions
