The Complexity Of The UK Criminal Justice System

The UK criminal justice system tends strongly towards trial avoidance. Many reasons for trial avoidance may be monetary and time consuming reasons and possibly an effective method of dissolving the justice gap by clearing up mere offences. The organ of government responsible f or enforcing justice is the court. Depending on the offence committed, there are two courts involved which are the crown court and the magistrate court. The order for determining what mode of trial is now designed to portion majority of the cases which will now be heard in the magistrate court. The cases may still be heard in the Crown court pending the severe nature of the crime committed (case), furthermore the Criminal procedure and investigation Act 1996 ensures
The outline of this essay will be discussing these fundamental issues (i) The importance of the courts also conversing about guilty pleas of defendants (ii) the adversarial and inquisitorial theories of criminal justice (iii) the procedure of convicts moving from court to conviction. This paper will conclude that the complexity of the criminal justice system is effective but ignoring its full potential, a system that strongly avoids trial may not be a completely effective way of criminal justice.

The courts have an invaluable role in the justice system. The magistrate and crown courts play massive roles in the justice system butp more focus will be on the magistrate court. Ninety percent of all cases are dealt in the magistrate court which are usually summary offences, either way offences or indictable offences but yet still emphasis its importance. Judicial statistics 2011, report a majority of defendants pleading guilty forsaking trial and a majority of late guilty pleas that later got
Further an European convention 2000 on human rights declares that everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing, that anyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to the law. A defendant who pleads guilty gives up these rights and does not put the prosecution to proof.

The criminal procedure theories involved in criminal trial for finding facts are the adversarial and inquisitorial approach. The adversarial approach involves the prosecution to prove the guilty of a defendant in a court case. This is the approach that is used in the UK. In my experience during the court visit, the prosecutor brings out a case on his reasons why the defendant is guilty. The defendants in return makes an argument on why he/she own argument on why they are not guilty. All these arguments are made to persuade the jury. This system is used by the English and other common law countries. The law system is heavily contracted trial avoidance. An example of case where such system is used is Regina V Geordie Simon Brierley [2003] EWCA Crim 796. However, in an inquisitorial approach the key role in coordinating a criminal inquiry is carried out by the court.