Introduction to criminal justice system - Essay Example

nal Justice Act of 2003, Section 148, a Crown court is not to pass a community sentence except as a last resort, if the seriousness of the crime merits it3. The Magistrate Court and Crown Court are both courts of first instance and deal with criminal law offences. All criminal offences initially come to the magistrate Court, however the summary offences are dealt with here while offences that are classed as triable are sent up to the crown Court. Offences fall into two primary categories – summary offences where a defendant may not be entitled to a trial by jury and indictable offences which include serious charges such as murder and manslaughter4.

Summary offences dealt with at the Magistrate Court include less serious ones such as traffic offences or failure to pay taxes and will generally include all cases, including triable offences, where the defendant has opted for a summary trial. However, the Crown Court hears those cases involving indictable offences which include the category of serious offences such as rape or murder. Approximately ninety six percent of criminal cases are dealt with summarily at a magistrates Court.”5 The legal system is essentially an adversarial one and thus expensive; for example studies conducted on divorce have revealed that adversarial litigation costs 66 percent more than mediation.

6 In the conventional legal environment, lawyers are trained to adopt an adversarial position in regard to the opposite party and the formal, court based, procedural environment that is laden with codes and rules of conduct. In a criminal trial, one of the most important rights that will accrue to any person accused of a crime is the constitutional right to every aspect of the due process of law that will ensure that his or her guilt is established by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.7 The due process of law is the right accorded to every person alleged to have committed a crime to be treated fairly when involved in a legal action.

The notion that