Criminal
Abolition of preliminary inquiries and a move to judge-alone trials
The core offences sit in the Offences Against the Person Act and the Criminal Law Act, with procedure in the Criminal Procedure Act and the Indictable Proceedings Act 2011. The Miscellaneous Provisions (Trial by Judge Alone) Act 2017 allows an accused to elect trial by judge without a jury, and the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act replaced the traditional preliminary inquiry with a sufficiency hearing to cut delay. Prosecutions are brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Magistrates' Courts for summary matters; High Court for indictable trials
- Deadline — First appearance: as soon as practicable after charge
- Deadline — Sufficiency hearing: replaces the preliminary inquiry and is subject to case-managed timetables
Governing law
- Offences Against the Person Act, Chap. 11:08
- Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011
- Miscellaneous Provisions (Trial by Judge Alone) Act 2017
- Bail Act 1994
In practice
The abolition of the preliminary inquiry was aimed squarely at the backlog, because the old process re-heard the prosecution case before a magistrate long before trial. The judge-alone option is used most where pre-trial publicity or the complexity of documentary evidence makes a jury trial unattractive to the defence.