Criminal Trial Process

Summary, Triable either way and Indictable offences

Crimes committed will eventually be taken too a court room. the court you go to will be decided by the seriousness of the offence committed, its split into three main pieces. A summary offence, Triable either way and an indictable offence. we will be going into more detail on all of these types of offences.

Summary Offence

A summary offence is generally considered as the least serious offence out of the three, this category covers things like petty thefts, small road traffic accidents and minor assaults. these summary offences are mainly dealt with in the magistrates court which can only give a maximum of six months imprisonment or a maximum fine of £5,000. Also a summary offence can also be given some sort of community sentence, which could be volunteering and unpaid work, to just helping the community in various ways. Most offences committed in the UK are summary offences. 

Triable Either Way

Triable either way offences either go to the magistrates court or the crown court, this can depend on many different things. For example, the nature of the case, if the magistrates court think that the crime committed is more serious than what they can deal with, then it will be sent up to the crown court. At first the prosecution will decide on which court they believe the case should go to, also the defendant can have a say on where he wants to go to court, as long as the prosecution agrees.  Some offences that fall under this category are theft, fraud, bigamy and some sex offences.

Indictable offences

These are considered the worst type of offence to commit out of the three. this like all types of offences starts in magistrates court but then automatically goes to crown court as it is to serious for magistrates court to deal with. These offences are the most serious and can come with a possible life sentence. The crimes under this type offence are as follows, rape, murder, manslaughter, GBH and sexual activity with children.