NCJ Number
194211
Date Published
2001
Length
689 pages
Annotation
This report provides recommendations for the criminal courts in the United Kingdom.
Abstract
The criminal law should be codified under the general oversight of a new Criminal Justice Council and maintained in four sections: criminal offenses, criminal procedure, criminal evidence, and sentencing. A national Criminal Justice Board should replace all the existing national planning and operational bodies, and be the means by which the criminal justice departments and agencies provide overall direction of the criminal justice system. The Crown Court and magistrates’ courts should be replaced by a unified Criminal Court consisting of the Crown Division, the District Division, and the Magistrates’ Division. Magistrates and District Judges should continue to exercise their established summary jurisdiction and the work should continue to be allocated between them. Jurors should be more widely representative than they are of the national and local communities from which they are drawn. The current hierarchy of judges and their jurisdictions should continue. Little scope or justification was found for decriminalization of conduct that Parliament has made subject to penal sanctions. The key to better preparation for, and efficient and effective disposal of, criminal cases is early identification of the issues. Four essentials are strong and independent prosecutors; efficient and properly paid defense lawyers; ready access by defense lawyers to their clients in custody; and a modern communications system. In trials by judge and jury, the judge should give the jury fuller introduction to the case than is now conventional. There should be the same tests for appeal against conviction and sentence respectively at all levels of appeal, namely those applicable for appeal to the Court of Appeal.