Crim Mock Notes PDF

2.2 -​ -​ Theres 3 types of offenses which are classified based on their seriousness - this determines which courts they can be tired in. The first type of offfenses are summery offenses. These are minor offences such as speeding or assault without injury,...

2.2 -​ -​ Theres 3 types of offenses which are classified based on their seriousness - this determines which courts they can be tired in. The first type of offfenses are summery offenses. These are minor offences such as speeding or assault without injury, summary offenses are tried in a magistrates court. The second type of offenses are traible either way offenses. These offences are mid way in terms of seriousness, they include burglary or acute bodily harm, they can be tries at the magistrates court or the crown court depending on the individual case. The final type of offences are indictable offences which are the most serious ones including rape, murder, robbery, etc. They are tried in a crown court and sometimes include having a jury present. -​ Pre trail matters take place before a trail and include all the decisions that a magistrates court has to deal with before a trail occurs. These decisions include, the pre trail review which normally handles the points of law like whether or not evidence is admissible and the reading of the charges to the defendant who then has to plead guilty or not guilty. If they plead guilty, the magistrate has to hear the evidence regarding mitigating and aggravating factors, the magistrate then has to divide if they will pass a sentence at that time or postpone the case for reports and pass a sentence at a later date. Magistrates also have the power to sent a case to the crown court if its too serious to be sentanced at a magistrates court. If the defendant plead not guilty, the magistrate is required to decide if bail is an option, decide about legal aid and any reports, the case would then be sent to the crown court for a trail. -​ A plea bargain can be used, this is an agreement from the defendant, the prosecutor and occasionally the judge for the defendant to plead guilty in exchange for some leniency or concessions from the prosecutor, this can be agreed upon before a case goes to court. The aim of a plea bargain is normally to avoid a lengthy trail, which is why the defendant is given incentives to plead guilty. Plea bargaining is contoversial though, some people argue that it can put pressure on a defendant or overshadow their right to a fair trail. Theres 3 types of plea bargaining, the first is charge bargaining. This regers to when a defendant decides to plead guilty to a lesser charge than their original charge to lessen their sentence. The second type is, court bargaining. This is common in cases where the defendant is being charged with multiple charges, or in situations involving gangs, the defendant could plead guilty to one and the rest would be dropped. The third type is sentence bargaining. This is when a defendant accepts liability and pleads guilty straight away, this avoids a long court process and would result in a lesser sentence due to the defendants cooperation. Everyone, regardless of wealth is entitled to legal advice and reprisentantion, this is where legal aid is essential. Its a basic principle of the legal system and exist;s so that people can represent themselves if they havent got access to a lawyer. For summeray offences, a defendant is given the opportunity to speak to a duty solicister to go over their plea or the evidence against them. For any not guilty pleas, defendants are given representations for court hearings and legal aid. -​ Under section 4 of the bail act 1976, all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, thi is why bail is so prominent. Bail refers to the temporary release of a  suspect or defendant while awaiting trail, police bail can be given at the police station, however, a custody officer may refuse it if the suspects name or address cant be proven. After a plea has been made, a court also has the power to grant bail. Theres 2 different types of bail. The first is unconditional bail. This is when a defendant is given permission to leave the police station with no conditions other than their presence at their court hearing. The second is conditional bail. This is when conditions are imposed on the defendant which they are required to agree too before they leave, for example, reporting to the police station once a week. The court has the power to refuse bail if they believe its likely theylll commit another offense while on bail or if they have previously been denied it. If this happens or if a defendant breaks bail they may be sent to prison until their trail. -​ After the pre trail phase, the magistrate will either set a date for the defendant to appeal in the magistrates court, if its a less serious crime, or, if its an indictable offence, the case would be sent to the crown court. This can only happen if the defendant pead not guilty. -​ Within the legal system in england and Wales theres 2 types of criminal court which are very broad. The first one is courts of first instance, which is where the initial trail is held, the two types of courts of first instance are the magistrates courts or the crown courts. The second type of criminal court is the Appellate courts. These courts hear about sentence or conviction appeals from verdicts from lower courts. The 2 types are the supreme court and the court of appeal. -​ Over 95% of criminal cases are decided at a magistrates court, they focus on less serious offences and are required to pass on any serious cases which must be sent to the crown court. Magistrates can decide to pass on triable either way cases if they believe its too serious for them to deal with. This is because magistrates have limited sentencing powers, they can decide if a defendant is guilty or not but can only impose fines of up too £5,000 and/or up to 6 months prison. If a defedant has multiple charges, this doubles. Magistrates dont need qualifications as theyre assisted by a clerk of the court who does have legal qualifications and they sit in panels of 3. Defendants are usually repisented by a solicister with legal aid. The crown courts deal with all indictable offences such as rape, some traible either way offences if a defendant has requested being trid at the crown court or where the case has been sent there by the magistrates court where the magistarte has deemed it too serious for them. The crown court also handeles any appeals made from a conviction or sentence given by the magistrates court. Normally, a defendant is reprisented by a barrister and the prosecution is represented by a member of the CPS. If a defendant pleads not guilty, the case has to be hear by a jury which consists of 12 members of the public, their role is to listen to all arguments and evidence given, examine physical evidence and take notes or ask questions if they want. Jurors then have to retire to jurors room to decide on a verdict. Normally a unanimous verdict is necessary but sometimes a majority vote of 10-2 is accepted. A judges role is crucial in a court. They have many responsibilities including, ensuring a trail is fair while protecting the defendants human rights and to pass sentencing if the defendants found guilty.  -​ If a defendant is found guilty they may have the right to appeal. This right is dependant on whether they were convicted by the magistrates court or the crown court and whether the defendant is appealing against their sentence or their conviction. If a defendant was convicted at a magistrates court they have an automatic right to appeal against their sentence or their conviction providing they pled not guilty. Any appeals must be within 21 days of a defendant being sentenced and it would be heard as a re trail in the crown court by a judge and 2 magistrates. The court can then decide to either uphold, dismiss or vary a descendants conviction, it can be varied by charging them of a lesser or greater charge or they can reduce or increase a defendants sentence. Compensation for any legal costs may be given to defendants if they win, however if they lose, they may be required to pay legal costs. Any further appeals made from the magistrates court must be granted permission to be made. If appeals are made from the crown courts verdicts, theyre heard in the court of appeals by 3 judges, defendats dont have an automatic right to appeal against crown courts verdicts, a judge must give permission, any leave for appeals must be requested within 28 days of sentencing. The only grounds for appeal allowed is that the conviction was unsafe, however, defendants can appeal against their sentence or their conviction. The prosecution can only appeal if, for example, they believe an error was made or they believe the sentence was unduly lenient. While the court of appeals cant re try a case, if they believe a conviction was unsafe they can order a retrial, but any other appeals would go to the supreme court. The supreme court is the highest court in the english legal system, any devisions made here are binding of all other courts. No defendant has an automatic right to appeal a case here, leave for appeal must be requested, however, the supreme typically will only hear cases where the general public importance is at stake. 2.5 -​ Lay people don't have any specialist knowledge about the legal system or the law as they are members of the public who can serve in 2 ways. The first is as members of the jury. Juries are present in the majority of crown court cases where 12 laypeople make up the jury and decide the verdict after hearing the evidence from both the prosecution and defence. They can take notes and ask questions through the judge who also advices them on the law. Once the arguments from the defence and prosecution have been said, the laypeople of the jury leave the courtroom to decided if the defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt or not guilty. They can also find the defendant guilty of a less serious crime than what the prosecution are arguing for. Decisions made by the jury are taken in secret, as its an offense for anyone to ask jurors about their verdict under the criminal justice and courts act 2015, this doesnt apply in certain situations such as reports of misconduct by other jurors. Jurors are selected at random through names on an electoral register, their summoned to court in a letter to do jury service, this normally takes 2 weeks but some trails can go longer than that. Under the juries act 1974 and criminal justice act 2003, you must be between 18 and 75, a citizen of the UK, the irish republic or a british commonwealth country and have lived in the UK, channel islands or isle of man for five years to be eligible to be a juror. Ig someones on bail or has received a 5 or more year prison sentence, theire disqualified from juror service, if someone received a less than 5  year sentence, their disqualified for 10 years. Simiallly, theres exemptions to jury duty, when normally people selected are legally required to attempt court, on medical grounds or situations where youve got a previously paid for holiday, you can be exempt. -​ Jurys have many strengths which is why theyre so prevalent in the legal system. One is, jury equity as jurors are bound by the law or precedents, they can make decisions about a case based on what feels morally right to them, as can be seen in the case of Clive Pointing who was on trail for leaking secret documents about the Falklands war, the judge instructed the jury to convict him but Pointing claimed it was in the publics interest, the jury acquitted him. Another strength is that justice is seen to be done, members of the public deciding the outcome makes the legal system seem more open, the judges explaining the law to the jury also allows the public and defendant to understand the case better. This can be seen in the case of Kay Gilderdale who had pleaded guilty to assisted suicide, under the suicide act 1961, the charge was up to 14 years in prison, but Gilderdale was given a 12 month conditional discharge, this shows how members of the public deciding the outcome gives the legal system more empathy and openness. A third strength is a fairer trail, as your being tried by a group of people that have been randomly selected, this allows for any prejudice to be cancelled out, your also being tried by your equals who are more likely to understand real life situations than a judge ot magistrates. Jurors are also less likely to be ‘case hardened’ whereas judges and magistrates have been accused of being ‘prosecution minded’. This is shown in the case of R v Mirza (2004) when the house of lords had to squash a conviction made on prejudices about the defendants race and use of an interpreter, a member of the jury wrote a letter to the defence explaining this after the verdicts. This shows that while prejudices can still arise in a jury, the diversity of people allow for a fairer trail. A final strength is public confidence and democracy, jurys allow people to be judges by their peers father then simply by the state, this is key to a democratic society. Senior judge Lord Devlin said that the jury is ‘the lamp that shows that freedom lives’. -​ Juries also have many weaknesses though, one of which is the concern that racial bias of member of the jury could affect the outcome, this can be seen in the case of Sander v United Kingdom (2000) which was the trail of an asian man. A member of the jury wrote a letter to the judge claiming that 2 other jury members had been making racist remarks. The judge allowed the trail to continue but the European Court of Human Rights upheld Sander's appeal. A second weakness is jury tampering, this is when people make attempts to bribe or intimidate jurors usually to acquit the defendant, upon section 44 of the criminal justice act 2003, the prosecution can apply for a judge alone if theres been an attempt of jury tampering. The first judge only trail was the R v Twomey abd others (2009) the defendants were accused of armed robbery from a heathrow warehouse, it was estimated it wouldve taken £6,000,000 and 82 officers to protect jurors during the trail. A third weakness is media influence, as in high profile cases, jurors may be influenced by the media coverage of a case. An example is R v Taylor and Taylor (1993) where the jury found both sisters guilty of murder, however, upon appeal, the court of appeal quashed their case due to ‘extensive, sensational and inaccurate’ coverage of the trail. A final weakness is jurors and the internet. The criminal justice and courts act 2015 made it illegal to search for information on a case if your a member of the jury, judges also make sure to instruct jurors not to research their case but Cheryl Thomas found 12%  of jurors admitted to researching their case on the internet, this can impact the outcome heavily. Dr Theodora Dallas (2011) and Lionel Tweed (2017) were imprisoned as they researched the cases they were on the jury for and shared their finding to other members of the jury. -​ The second way that laypeople can serve is magistrates. There are over 280 local magistrates courts sitting around 15,000 magistrates. Theyre part time volunteers, who are members of the public with no legal qualifications but they do have training, they have a legally qualified legal clerk who helps advice them on the law. They must be between the ages of 18 and 65 when appointed and can serve until 70 years old. The majority of criminal cases are heard by a panel of 3 magistrates and 95% of cases are decided there too, they can only try less serious cases like public disorder. When a defendant pleads not guilty a trail is held before the magistrates, if guilty they can impose a fine of up to £5,000 and/ or 6 months in prison but this is doubled for multiple offences. If a case is more serious than that, its passed to the crown court for sentencing or a whole trail. -​ Magistrates have many strengths. The first one is democracy, as the use of laypeople allows local people to become involved in the criminal system rather than leaving it entirely up to the state, it brings elements of democracy into the criminal justice system. A second strength is the use of local knowledge, as magistrates serve in their local courts, they have knowledge of the local area which they can use to impose the needs of the community while sentencing offenders, this can be seen in the case if paul v DDP (1989) when magistrates had to asses whether a kerb crawler was likely to be an issue, however, because the magistrates were from the local area, they knew that kerb crawling was a problem in the area, they could use that knowledge to effectively assist the case. A third strength is the limited number of appeals that arise from magistrates courts, they deal with many cases, 1.5 million in 2018, but only around 5,000 are appeal a year and the majority of those that do get appealed are about the sentence not the verdict, simiallly, less than half of these appeals are successful which shows that magistrates are accurate in their verdicts and their sentences the majority of the time. A final strength of magistrates is the cost, because they arent paid for their work its a more economical way of establishing justice, an estimate suggested that if paid judges were used, it would cost £100,000,000 a year. -​ However, magistrates also have weaknesses, the first one being unrepresentative of the populations age, in 2018 only 4% of magistrates were under 40 whereas in the uks population that is 50%. 55% of magistrates were over 60 whereas in the uks population, its only 25%. Similarly, the majority of defendants are under 25 which shows a lack of representation for the peoples cases who their trying. A second weakness is unrepresentative of the population in terms of social class as the majority of magistrates are froma middle class background, this is due to middle class jobs being more lenient with time off and the higher income allows them to take an unpaid role as a magistrate. Their middle class background could mean that they dont have the circumstantial understanding of people living in the poorer areas of their local communities. A third weakness is bias. As magistrates convict over 90% of all cases, many people believe this is because they are in favour of believing the police. This can be seen in the case of Bingham justices (1974) where the conviction  was of speeding but the evidence from the defendant and the police officers contradicted each other. This bias could allow magistrates to unfairly convict someone based on their biases. A final weakness of magistrates is their overreliance on legal advisors. As magistrates arent legally qualified, they rely on their legal advisors to assist with point of law, however, critics argue that despite legal advisors not being able to help decide a sentence, magistrates as theyre laypeople may take the view of the legal advisor -​ Overall, the use of lay people in cases is crucial to ensuring a trail is as fair as it can be, in the terms of juries it allows a defendant to have a diverse group of people assessing the evidence of their case to ensure their conviction is unanimous, however, the use of internet and media representation could be a growing problem within jury trails as its becoming a more prominent aspect of society. Magistrates allow defendants cases to be assessed by people who know the local are and can prioritise its needs, however, their lack of legal knowledge can lead to them referring to the opinions of their legal advisors which isnt allowed Moral panic: HIV/AIDS- In the early 1980’s the majority of media representation about HIV referred to it as ‘gay pneumonia’ and with a worldwide lack of knowledge about how it is spread and how to treat it. The media tended to generalise those who got AIDS by their sexuality, age group or gender. By doing this not only did it cause panic for the public with misleading headlines but it singled out groups in society, the main one being young gay men labelling them as ‘dirty’ or ‘contagious’. The media’s representation of the illness not only exaggerated what was happening but also caused more people to question their morals and who they should touch in case they caught it. Changing public concerns or attitudes: Sex crimes- The media representation of sex crimes focusesses on young women to be the victims of sex crimes and men to be the offenders and while in some cases that is true, the media fails to represent other victims of sex crimes, such as men. The media also misrepresents how most cases of sexual crimes occur, in films or tv programmes, its shown that someone psychotic will assault you in the woods or a dark alleyway, however the statistics show that its most commonly someone the victim knows, who has open access to their house and takes on opportunity when it arises. By doing this the media is shaping the public's concerns to only fit those circumstances, because of this men are less likely to speak out and when they do are less likely to be believed. The media's representation of these crimes also shapes the public's concerns and they are more likely to be concerned about a woman in a sketchy situation rather than a man in a sketchy situation. Stereotypes of offenders: Stop and search on young black males- Media representation of crime has a big effect on who the public may call the police on, or who the police are more likely to stop. According to the government website, for every 1000 black people, there are 27.2 stops and searches, whereas for every 1000 white people there are only 5.6 searches. Media representation of different races is a leading cause in this, the media is more likely to share a story when a black man is the offender than if a white man is the offender to build on false stereotypes. Not only is that just wrong but it builds on stereotypes that actually put black peoples lives at risk. Perception of crime trends: Child abductions- The media only show stories that they think will sell, so the main headlines tend to be of things like murder, child abduction, etc, meaning that people will see these things quite often when in fact they are not as common as people think. Some parents even say that media representations influence their parenting decisions, in TV shows and films, they show the worst cases or even things that haven't happened like in some crime dramas. Not only does this cause unnecessary panic but it also falsely implies that rates for crimes like child abduction are higher than they are. Changing priorities and emphasis: -​ When media voice concern about a particular type of crime it may lead to changes in the priorities or policies in government dangerous dogs act (1990): -​ It was reported that rottweilers were attacking and killing children. Reported with graphic headlines and photos, eventually under the DDA it was illegal to own a dangerous dog. illegal raves: -​ criminal order and justice order of 1994 -​ public concern due to property damage and drug use. -​ 1980’s illegal raves were popular and synonymous with taking MDMA and ecstasy and house music Stanley Cohen defines moral panic as an irrational overreaction by society to a perceived problem Moral Panic: -​ Starts with the media identifying a group as a ‘folk devil’ or threat to societal values -​ Can lead to exaggerated concerns, public outcry or harsh social or legal responses -​ Often not as severe as it seems -​ The media, politicians and respectable people often condemn groups wrongfully because of moral panic Example- Drugs, homelessness, gaming, AIDs, Terrorism 3 elements of moral panic: Exaggeration and distortion: exaggerating the number of people involved, exaggerating the seriousness, distorting the oicture Prediction: Media have indicated the behaviour will continue Symbolism: Created symbold labelli8ng the 2 groups for example, the clothes, bikes, hairstyles, etc Mods and Rockers: -​ Caused moral panic in 1960’s because their clothes and confrontation at seaside resorts- in media they were shown as a threat to the public  -​ The media sensationalised their conflicts Mod -a young person of a subculture characterised by a smart stylish appearance, the riding of motor scooters, and a liking for soul music. Rockers- bikers who wore black leather jackets and other motorcycle related items Child Q: -​ Strip searched at school by 4 officers -​ Accused of having cannabis at school with no reason to believe it -​ Promted protests in Hackney -​ Her parents not contacted and she was on her period