Media law week 1 - 52a crime and disorder act 1998

52a crime and disorder act 1998

What is the difference between criminal court and civil court?

Criminal court deals with crimes against the state (jail terms, fines etc) whereas Civil court deals with and resolves disputes between companies, individuals, institutions etc (judges decide outcome)

What did the case of Scott v Scott set precedent for?

The principle of open justice - that court proceeding should take place in public (divorce case due to marriage not being consummated, Mr Scott spread false lies about him not being incompetent )

What is the court structure of the Criminal courts? 

Magistrates’ courts (can only sentence up to one year in jail), Crown court (stricter sentences), Court of appeals Supreme Court 

What is the court structure of the civil courts?

County court, High court, Court of appeal, Supreme Court

What does Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights say?

Everyone has the right to a fair trial and should be presumed innocent until found guilty.

What is a Custom? 

When the English legal system began in the Middle Ages royal judges administered the ‘law and custom of the realm’. This developed into ‘Common Law’ or Custom

What is a precedent?

Judges applied common law to the cases before them. This still happens, so decisions made in courts set precedents for other cases

What is statutes?

acts of Parliament

What are statutory instruments? 

eg like the emergency laws made during COVID

What happens in Civil Courts?

the claimant sues the defendant using a claim form, the judge (rarely a jury) hears both sides and decides on the balance of probabilities, and the outcome is usually money (damages) or a court order — with most cases heard in county court and listed as Claimant v Defendant

What happens in Criminal courts?

the defendant is prosecuted for a crime investigated by police, and the court, magistrates or judge and jury, decides if they are guilty or not after hearing evidence (unless they plead guilty earlier for a reduced sentence), resulting in a criminal conviction if found guilty.

What are the three types of criminal offences?

summary (more minor crimes eg shoplifting), either-way (medium level offending such as burglary), indicatable only (most serious - eg murder) dealt with in Crown Court

What is the jury?

Juries are made up of 12 people picked at random from the electoral roll. Involved in some crown court trials and some civil cases

What are judges? 

Judges are qualified lawyers with many years’ experience practising as barristers

What are district judges in the magistrates court?

legally trained, paid staff who handle more sensitive cases in the magistrates court and don’t need a legal advisor in court

What is a magistrate?

volunteers who are not legally trained. they sit in groups of three and rely on a clerk for legal advice. Work in the magistrates court.

What is the standard proof in all criminal cases? 

the magistrates or jury must be ‘sure beyond all reasonable doubt’ that the defendant has committed the crime. If they are not ‘sure’ they are guilty then they cannot convict

What does acquitted mean?

If someone is found not guilty

What happens if the jury can’t come to a verdict?

If jury can’t come to a unanimous verdict (all agree) they can come to a majority verdict (10-2 or 9-1) after judge gives them a direction - this is after at least two hours and ten minutes of deliberation If they can’t agree there could be a retrial

What happens in a jail term?

most criminals spend half sentence in jail and half on licence in the community if they behave

What is a suspended sentence? 

defendant walks free from court but must behave for a certain amount of time specified by the court. If they commit another crime within the specified period the original sentence can be activate

What is a concurrent jail term?

a term served at the ‘same time’ as the main sentence

What is a consecutive sentence?

served in addition to any original sentence

What is absolute discharge?

convicted but no further punishment

What is a probation order? 

monitored by probation service for period of time and may have to carry out community work or attend courses

What is a conditional discharge?

no further punishment but some conditions imposed eg banned from a particular area

What is a community punishment order?

carried out in the community, may include unpaid work or other conditions

What is a restraining order?

banned from going within a certain distance of someone (used in domestic abuse cases)

What is binding over? 

In effect a warning - criminal is not convicted but must agree to keep the peace for a specified period of time eg 12 months and will lose an agreed sum of money if they don’t eg £100

What is a committal for sentence?

must be sentenced in the Crown Court as magistrates feel their powers aren’t enough

What is Section 52a of the crime and Disorder Act 1998?

automatically restricts reporting of what is said in a defendant’s first magistrates’ court hearing, allowing only the basic details of the alleged offence and the defendant’s identity to be published so their right to a fair trial is not prejudiced.