Archbold Magistrates' Courts Criminal Practice 2027

Published in two volumes, Archbold Magistrates' Courts Criminal Practice 2027 edition is edited by Aaron Turpin with a specialist contributor team. It gives fast, reliable answers for prosecutors, defenders, magistrates, legal advisers, court staff and institutional users, combining refreshed contributor commentary with practical materials such as model documents, model charges, checklists and workflow aids.

The edition is positioned around practical readiness for continuing procedural and legislative change affecting magistrates' court work, including developments in allocation, sentencing powers and appeal routes. The work is available in hardcover print or eBook format.

• Fully updated to include all relevant new legislation, including the Labour government’s flagship criminal justice legislation, the Crime and Policing Act 2026, the Victims and Courts Act 2026 and the Sentencing Act 2026, with expert commentary.
• Also updated to cover relevant content in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 and the Mental Health Act 2025.
• Introduction (and amendment of existing) workflows/checklists in Ch. 8 on Bail.
• New introduction to Hearsay (ch.15) which sets out checklist/workflow process for whether hearsay evidence should be admitted. (An area regularly litigated at appeal level).
• Revised and standardised paragraphs on sentencing in chs 28, 29 and 30 to make clear max penalty, ancillary orders where relevant and whether there is a sentencing guideline and which one (and if not whether any existing guideline may provide an analogy).
• Additional material in Road Traffic (ch.30), including the commonly charged offence of failing to give information as to the identity of the driver contrary to s.172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 with commentary, and an overview of the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 (largely not yet in force).
• Model charges added to ch.29 Public Order Offences