Subjects:

Blackstone Legislation Guides, Criminal Law

Contents:

Introduction:

Background and progress through Parliament

1Amendments to PACE

2 Bail, cautions, and charging

3 Disclosure

4 Allocation and transfer of offences and live links

5 Trials on indictment without a jury

6 Prosecution appeals

7 Double jeopardy - retrial for serious offences

8 Evidence of bad character, including previous convictions

9 Hearsay evidence

10 General sentencing provisions

11 Community sentences and fines

12 Short, intermittent, and suspended prison sentences

13 Requirements in community sentences and prison sentences

14 Dangerous offenders

15 Sentencing and allocation guidelines

16 Release on licence

17 Miscellaneous

APPENDIX

Text of the Criminal Justice Act 2003

This book analyses, explains, and evaluates the Government's flagship criminal justice legislation, the Criminal Justice Act 2003. It provides an accessible commentary on the wide ranging and complex changes introduced by the Act, which will leave few areas of the criminal justice system untouched.

The Act starts with changes to police powers, bail, cautioning, and pre-trial disclosure, and moves on to the abolition of committal proceedings and the introduction of the possibility of trials on indictment without juries. It then goes on to provide for prosecution appeals and a broad range of offences where a trial following acquittal can exceptionally be allowed. The rules on evidence are significantly reformed providing firstly, a much wider basis on which evidence of bad character (including previous convictions) can be admitted, and secondly, for the admissibility of hearsay 'where it is not contrary to the interests of justice' to admit it.

The Act also provides a major restatement and reform of the sentencing framework and the provisions for release on licence, and abolishes most of the categories of exemption from the duty to perform jury service. Anyone working in the Criminal Justice System or interested in its operation will welcome this guide, which provides invaluable insights into the purposes of the Act and a detailed explanation of its provisions. The book also includes the full text of the Act.