If the offence charged is an indictable offence, the magistrates will remit the case to a later Crown Court hearing under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 when the defendant may request a further hearing to determine whether the prosecution case is strong enough to justify a trial.
If the Crown Court trial proceeds, the defendant will be tried by a judge and jury. The jury will hear al the evidence and decide whether he is guilty or not guilty. If convicted, it is then the responsibility of the judge to decide his sentence.
Model answer to sentencing
Before sentencing X, the judge would first consider which aims of sentencing were appropriate. These are retribution which simply means punishment – giving X her ‘just deserts’. He could also impose a deterrent sentence to prevent her re-offending OR a rehabilitative sentence being imposed. If convicted of non fatal offence, the judge could decide to impose a custodial sentence to protect society.
The range of sentences cover four main types – custodial, community, financial and discharges. Under the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 there are 3 types of custodial sentences. Firstly, custodial sentences: for those over 21 years of age is prison. Secondly, custodial sentence for those under 21 years of age is a young offenders institution and finally custodial sentences for those aged 12-17 (optional) is a secure training centre or secure accommodation
Another type of sentence a judge can use is community sentence. Must be 16+. You can be given a community sentence if the offence is serious enough to warrant it. Under S.177 of the CJA 2003, the court may make a community rehabilitation and punishment ORDER that imposes ONE or MORE of the following. An example a judge could give is an order of between 40 and 300 hours of unpaid work in the community, such as cleaning graffiti or treatment for drug or alcohol addiction as well as a curfew requiring an offender to remain in a particular place at a particular time.
Finally, the lowest form of sentencing is a Discharge, either absolute where X would be completely freed by the court, or conditional which means that she would be sentenced if she committed another offence within a period not greater than 3 years from the original offence.
Before deciding on the actual sentence, the judge would consider both aggravating and mitigating factors. Aggravating are those which would tend to result in a heavier sentence and include – use of weapon, def had previous convictions s. 143 CJA 2003 or Racially or religiously aggravated s. 145 CJA 2003 and the offence was premeditated
Mitigating factors would ‘lighten’ the sentence and include - early guilty plea, 1/3 of the sentence is reduced, Genuine remorse, Youth and maturity of the def or the Def’ family responsibilities