LAW AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Law and Criminal Justice



Law and Criminal Justice

Court and Crown Court Trial

Magistrates' courts deal with criminal and some civil cases, and cases are dealt with either by justices of the peace, who are unqualified and who are paid only expenses, or by District Judges (Magistrates' Courts) who receive some payment. In Northern Ireland, cases are heard by paid magistrates only. Magistrates' courts usually only deal with cases which arise in their own area. In Northern Ireland, in exceptional cases, they can deal with offences that occur in a number of areas, for example, where several burglaries have been committed across a number of areas. (Welsh 2003:201)

Many offences range widely in seriousness; a theft can be of a bag of sweets, or of a million pounds. Such offences can be tried either in the Magistrates Court, or at the Crown Court. They are 'either-way' offences. You have, for now at least, the right to choose to take the matter to the Crown Court. Before doing so you should consider the different advantages and disadvantages of each venue.

The Crown Court deals with the following types of cases:-

more serious criminal offences which will be tried by judge and jury

appeals from the magistrates court - which are dealt with by a judge and at least two magistrates

convictions in the magistrates' court that are referred to the Crown Court for sentencing.

Imprisonment and fines in the Crown Court are more severe than in the magistrates' court. (Shell 2007:45)Most importantly, by tradition and by experience, Crown Court juries seem more prepared to enter verdicts of not guilty than are Magistrates. The usual reasoning is that Magistrates hear many hundreds of cases, and come to see defendants in a jaundiced way. Juries come with fresh minds, and possibly a better awareness of life "at the bottom of the heap". Nobody can really know, and in this field above all others, statistics are usually misleading. Comparisons are difficult, but I prefer to believe those who suggest that fifty per cent more of those who go to trial in the crown court are found not guilty than in a magistrates court.

Crown Court judges have greater powers of sentencing. An offence which carrying six months imprisonment in the Magistrates Court, might carry three years at Crown Court. Crown Court judges are also, more ready to use their sentencing powers.

There is a longer waiting time before the matter is dealt with in the Crown Court. In the Magistrates Court the overwhelming advantage is that, for the moment at least, Magistrates may impose a maximum of six months imprisonment per offence, with a total overall maximum of twelve months. Where a sentence is likely to carry a risk of sentence of imprisonment, and the sentence might test these limits, and in particular where a defendant might have to plead guilty to other offences in any event, a trial in the Magistrates Court may well be preferable. (Raphael, Donald , McKay 2004:75)At the end of a case, Magistrates can say that they ...