Magistrate’s court
There is a magistrate’s court in every large town and most criminal cases are heard here. There are 11 types of people involved;
- Magistrates – there are normally three magistrates. They are unpaid and take time off their jobs only receiving expenses. However stipendiary magistrates or district judges do get paid and are trained in law. Whereas magistrates are only trained on how to be a magistrate. Magistrates must be between 27 and 65 and have good common sense.
- Defence solicitors – lawyers that will try and get the accused the less sentence as possible.
- Prosecution solicitors – the complete opposite of a defence solicitor. Will try and make the sentence as long as possible by putting the case across against the accused.
- Ushers – make sure everyone is in the right place at the right time and that everything goes smoothly.
- The defendant, witnesses, police officers, prison officers, probation officers, social workers, the public and journalists all have the same role as in a crown court.
The Adversarial System
The adversarial system is a common legal system which has been adopted by England. It relies on the skills of different people representing their party’s positions (prosecution or defendant) and an unbiased party (the judge/the jury) to determine the truth of a case.
The person accused of committing a crime must be considered innocent unless they can b proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt. It is the prosecutions job to do this. The defence need to do the complete opposite. They need to try their hardest to prove the defendant is not guilty or get the defendants as low a sentence as possible. This can be done by cross examining witnesses or the prosecution, or finding loop holes in evidence/statements etc.
Cross examination is the right for both party’s to question each other and their witnesses. This helps to find out whether either party may be lying or got their stories mixed up.
Trial by jury is used in the Crown Court when a defendant pleads not guilty. The jury will sit in the court and carefully listen to evidence on both sides. The judge is able to give them advice and at the end they will decide a verdict behind closed doors. This system gives a fair trial because the decision is made by normal people with common sense and it’s not just up to one person to decide.
Witnesses are required to give evidence under oath. Before they give evidence they must place their hand on their book of faith and say ‘I swear my God to give the whole truth and nothing but the truth’. However they do not have to ‘swear’, they can ‘affirm’.
If a criminal offence is committed such as theft or assault the suspect can automatically be arrested. Below is the process of the criminal courts in England and Wales;
- Suspect is arrested and taken into custody.
- Suspect is read their rights and asked if they would like a solicitor to represent them. If the suspect chooses to have a solicitor he will advise the suspect of what is happening and explain legal matters etc. He will speak on half of the suspect and represent their defence. If the suspect is under 17 they must find an appropriate adult to represent them.
- Suspect is interviewed. After the interrogation police will decide if they have enough evidence to charge the suspect. For crimes that are not that serious or if the suspect has admitted to the crime then the police can charge the suspect without going through the Crown Prosecution Service. In any other case the CPS must review the case and decide on the correct charge.
When the suspect has been charged the police must decide whether to release the suspect on bail or keep the suspect in custody before appearing before a Magistrates Court. England and Wales believe that the suspect is innocent until proven guilty so the suspect should not be kept in custody before the trial unless there is a valid reason.
- Bail can be granted by either the police or CPS. If granted the suspect will be released from police custody until they are next to appear in court or at the police station. There are two types of bail;
Common bail – this says that the suspect may not go within a certain distance of a witness’ house or the suspect may have a curfew.
Conditional bail – the police and courts can enforce conditions in interest of the protection of witnesses and to ensure that the suspect actually turns up for court.
If the suspect fails to follow their bail conditions or fail to attend court they are likely to be arrested and have their bail withdrawn as it breaches their conditions.
- Failure to appear in court is a prosecutable offence. It could lead to up to 12 months imprisonment.
- Before going to court the defendant should decide whether to plead guilty or not guilty.
- If the defendant pleads guilty the court will sentence the defendant.
- If the defendant pleads not guilty a date will be set for their trial.
- There maybe several court hearings for a case so the court can reach a verdict.
- During the trial the prosecution will present a case and then the defendants lawyer will cross examine their evidence and present their defence.
- In a magistrates court the district judge considers the verdict based on the evidence presented.
- In a Crown Court there will be a jury who will consider the evidence and decide a verdict. A jury is 12 members of the general public. After hearing the case they are taken into a private room to reach a verdict. They must reach a majority verdict of 10 out of 12 people at least.
- If found innocent you are free to leave.
- If found guilty you may be released on bail to return to court for sentencing, receive your sentence immediately, remain in custody pending sentencing.
- Depending on the severity of the crime a sentence can be fines, imprisonment, community punishments, or discharges.
Statute Law
Statute law is a law that has been written by a law making body with appropriate legislation. In the UK our law making body is known as Parliament. All new laws therefore are known as statute laws and these laws have to be drafted (which means planned) and debated (discussed) in Parliament before they can actually become official laws. So statute basically means ‘new laws’. An example of a statute law is the Data Protection Act 1998.
Common Law
Common law forms a major part of England’s law. It covers common crimes that happen on a day to day basis and have always existed such as rape, assault, murder and theft. Common law however does evolve with time and the sentencing for various crimes can be made harsher or softer. It uses the idea of precedence so that what punishments have been passed before in similar crimes can be used to determine the punishment for a similar crime.
This is different to statute law as these laws are the ancient laws of the land and are not new laws made by parliament.
Criminal law
Criminal law deals with the crime and the legal punishment of criminal offences and is used by the police to prosecute offenders. The police bring the offender on behalf of the Queen and they are tried in either a magistrate’s court or crown court depending on the severity of their crime. Criminal law includes crimes like theft, driving offences, murder, theft etc.
Civil law
Civil law is more private. It includes law relating to property and contracts. It includes things like compensation, damages, buying and selling, education etc. Civil law is practised by solicitors. Cases are normally heard at small claims courts or county courts.
Civil law is different to criminal law. Cases are brought by individuals and not by the police. Criminal law involves cases that are a lot more serious and criminal law cases main aims are not to get money out of the prosecution but to sentence the prosecution.
Explain how courts deal with three types of criminal offence
How a summary offence is tried
Most offences are summary, which means they can only be heard in the Magistrates' Court. These include common assault, threatening behaviour and nearly all motoring offences. They may not be imprisonable at all, or may carry a maximum sentence of no more than six months or a maximum fine of £5000.
For a summary offence the trial would go like this;
- Crimes are recorded by the police.
- Police arrest suspect.
- Suspect is charged.
- Crown Prosecution Service receives papers from the police (the prosecutors).
- CPS proceeds with charge.
- Suspect is taken to a Magistrates Court for a hearing.
- Suspect is tried at Magistrates Court.
- Suspect receives a sentence.
How an indictable offence is tried
Indictable offences are offences that are more serious. These offences can result in life imprisonment. This is how it would be tried;
- Crimes recorded by police
- Police arrest suspect.
- Suspect is charged.
- Crown Prosecution Service receives papers from the police (the prosecutors).
- CPS proceeds with charge.
- Suspect is taken to a Magistrates Court for a hearing.
- Sent to Crown Court.
- Sentence is determined.
How an each way offence is tried
Each way offences are of moderate seriousness and could be tried either in a magistrates or crown court. This is how it would be tried;
- Crimes recorded by police
- Police arrest suspect.
- Suspect is charged.
- Crown Prosecution Service receives papers from the police (the prosecutors).
- CPS proceeds with charge.
- Suspect is taken to a Magistrates Court for a hearing.
- Can either be declined jurisdiction or the defendant elects crown court trial, or tried as a summary trial at a magistrates court.
- Crown court trial or magistrate court trial.
- Sentence given.
Explain how courts deal with civil matters
Civil courts deal with matters such as;
- Adopting a child.
- Family disputes about money and property.
- Decisions about children.
- Making a claim i.e. getting money that someone owes you.
- Defending a claim i.e. if someone is trying to get money out of you which you do not actually owe.
- Getting a divorce.
- Protecting victims of domestic violence.
They are brought to court by the individual and no police are involved. It is up to you or your solicitor to present your case.
If you wanted to make a claim you would need to go to county court and issue a claim. You will be given a claim form to fill in. You make three copies of this form. One for yourself , one for the defendant and of course one for the court. The court will then send your claim form and a response pack to the defendant. If it all goes smoothly and your claim is admitted you will get your money. If the claim is denied then the case may have to go to court.
If the case ends up going to court and you wish to proceed you must send all your paper work about your case to the court fourteen days before the court hearing. The judge may hold a preliminary hearing so he can try and get some more information about your case or if he thinks the case might get difficult in some way. The judge may try and influence the settling of your case outside of the court.
The court hearing is most likely public. However you can make the hearing private if you have a good reason. County court hearings are a lot more formal than they would be in magistrates or crown courts. At the end of the hearing there is a judgement and the judge will explain the reasons for his decision.
If you win the case then the moneys yours, if you lose you have to pay costs, or if you lose if you’ve got a really good reason you can appeal.