courts
history
Anglo Saxon
- Shire Courts - met twice a year & handled serious cases
- Hundred Courts - met monthly & handled less serious crimes
- trial by oaths - swear on a bible that they are innocent
- trial by ordeal - in church - ‘weregild’ as punishment (fines)
1166
The Assize of Clarendon established
- Royal Justices would travel throughout the kingdom hearing cases & administering justice on behalf of the king
- establishment of grand juries (12 local knights - determine whether there was sufficient evidence to take a case to court) & petty juries (12 lawful men from each village who determined the verdict)
- witnesses
1195
- Richard I - appointed a number of knights as keepers of the peace who assisted sheriffs in maintaining the kings peace
- Justice of the Peace Act 1361 - JP’s appointed from the local gentry - given authority to ‘restrain offenders, rioters, & other barrators, & to pursue, arrest, take & chastise them according to their trespass or offence’
1388
Quarter Sessions
- took place 4 times a year
- included county & city sessions
- chaired by JP’s
- dealt with crimes not serious enough for assizes
- used juries in criminal cases
1730’s
Petty Sessions
- JP’s/Magistrates
- dealt with petty crimes
- send serious cases to higher courts (assizes, quarter sessions)
modern
- Courts Act 1971 - established the courts service (crown & magistrates) - abolished assizes & quarter sessions
- magistrates - reformations - extended jurisdiction to deal with some cases formally dealt with by quarter sessions, increased sentencing powers, established a process to appeal in crown court, family courts established
the court process
attending court
summonsed to attend
if arrested & released on bail - required to attend court at a later date
if held in police custody overnight/remanded in custody - taken directly to courtmary cases & less serious triable either way offences (defendants have the right to ask for a trial by jury)
magistrates
deal with sum
all cases begin in the magistrates - more serious triable either way offences & indictable offences are sent to the crown court
sentencing powers - max 6 months imprisonment/unlimited fine
appeal against verdict (if pleaded not guilty) & sentence to crown court
chair of 3 magistrates (lay people), hear arguments from the defence & prosecution, decide the verdict & sentence (just sentence if D pleaded guilty), required to work a minimum of 13 days a year
crown courts
deal with more serious triable either way offences & indictable offences
clerk calls D to the bar by name & reads out the indictment (each separate charge is a count) - pleads guilty(move straight to sentencing or is adjourned for pre-sentencing report)/not guilty (set a date for trial)
jury of 12 decide the verdict after hearing arguments from the defence & prosecution - jury equity - if undecided judge can allow a majority verdict
crown court judges decide the sentence
sentencing powers - subject to the sentencing guidelines in the relevant statute
appeals
have a right to appeal against sentence or conviction (if pleaded not guilty)
outcomes - allowed or dismissed
crown court - not automatic - grounds: issues with jury, bias in judgement, new evidence
- heard by court of appeal - outcomes: quash verdict, substitute for a lesser offence, order a retrial, dismiss
- Criminal Cases Review Commission - consider cases thought to be miscarriages of justice - used following high profile cases (Birmingham six) - decide whether they should be sent to court of appealprosecution appeals
- can appeal against a verdict of not guilty or an unduly lenient sentence due to procedural unfairness or irrationality
- AG & Solicitor General can applu for leave to appeal sentences considered unduly lenient (for serious offences)
- court of appeal can: keep the sentence the same, increase it, refuse to hear
main issues
backlog of trials (esp for sexual crimes) - court closures, decline in ‘sitting days’
special RASSO courts established
cuts to legal aid -
underfunding & infrastructure -