UK Legal Framework, Reporting Crime and Privilege

Legal Framework

Magistrates Court
(Deal with both civil and criminal matters)

• Summary cases
• Bail applications
• Committal hearings
• Family Court
• Youth Court
• Licensing appeals
• Maximum sentence of 6 months can be given
• Fines up to £5000

Crown Court
(E.g. Old Bailey, Winchester Crown Court, etc.)

• Indictable offences
• Appeals from magistrates
• Sentencing

Supreme Court - Parliament Square   
 

Standards of Proof

• Criminal case - against the state - "Beyond reasonable doubt"
• Civil case - between individuals/companies - "On the balance of probability"
  

Sources of Law

• Statute law
• Judicial law
• Common law
• EU law
  

Types of Offence

• Summary - Least serious offences (e.g. parking offences, etc.) and are only heard at Magistrates.
• Either Way - e.g. theft, burglary, assault, etc. can be heard at either Magistrates or Crown court, depending on seriousness of allegations.
• Indictable-only - Most serious offences (e.g. rape, murder, robbery, etc.) and are only heard at Crown court. They carry a sentence of 5 or more years.
  

Important People and Organisations

• Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
• Director of Public Prosecutions - Alison Saunders
• Minister of Justice - Chris Grayling
• Attorney General - Dominic Greeve
  

Reporting Crime
Beware of:
Prejudice - where the publication of certain information will make it difficult for an accused person to be treated fairly at trial i.e the jury already knows background facts about the defendant
Contempt - where information is published in breach of the rules on crime or court reporting.  High risk of prejudicing legal proceedings.


A case becomes legally active when:

• Someone is arrested
• An arrest warrant has been issued
• A person has been charged
• A summons is issued by magistrates

Things to be aware of in court reporting:

• Whilst court proceedings are covered by absolute privilege, things said by those in the public gallery are not
• If the jury is not present, proceedings should not be reported
• Section 49 - grants anonymity to under 18s in Youth Court
• Section 39 - grants anonymity to under 18s in Court

7 reportable points at magistrates hearings:

• Name, age, address and occupation of defendant (needed for positive identification)
• The charges
• If bail is granted
• If legal aid was granted
• Names of Court and Magistrates
• Names of solicitors and barristers present
• Date and place to which case is adjourned

Privilege
Absolute privilege - protection on all matters from court or parliament
Qualified privilege - day to day protection against malice & potentially untrue statements in things such as police statements, press conferences, public meetings, press releases, council meetings, etc.
However, reporting must be fast (in first available edition of publication), accurate and fair (not bias) to maintain privilege.