The Law Handbook 2024

84 Section 2: Getting help at the start of your email. This is a way of ensuring that your out-of-court negotiations cannot be used against you in court. Pleading guilty to a criminal charge If you decide to plead guilty, the process is: 1 After your name is called, the court clerk will direct you to come to the front of the court. 2 The prosecutor applies for ‘summary jurisdiction’ if the charge is an indictable offence that can be heard summarily. The magistrate must then tell you that you can choose to have your case decided by a judge and jury in the County Court, and ask whether you consent to the charge being dealt with in the Magistrates’ Court (see Chapter 3.7: Which court for which crime?). When making this decision, the things to consider are the longer delays, greater cost and enhanced complexity involved in having a case transferred to be heard by a judge and jury. Otherwise, you can ask to have the magistrate hear the charge there and then. If you choose to go before a judge and jury in the County Court, the magistrate will ‘adjourn’ (i.e. put off until a later date) the hearing. If you choose to have the charge dealt with by the magistrate, the hearing will proceed. 3 The magistrate will ask what your plea is to the charge: guilty or not guilty. You must answer this question. If you have not made a decision, the hearing will be paused and might be adjourned. 4 If you plead guilty, the prosecutor will read to the court the summary of facts relating to the charge against you. You will be asked if this is true and correct. For the case to go ahead as a guilty plea, you must agree with the summary read out to the court. Remember, if you disagree with the summary of facts, this needs to be discussed during a summary case conference, ideally before the day of the court hearing. 5 The magistrate will announce that they find the charges against you proven, if they are satisfied that the summary of facts establishes the charges. 6 If you plead guilty, the magistrate will ask if you have any prior criminal history – this means if you have previously been to court and been found guilty of an offence. If you are in court for a traffic offence, the magistrate will ask for your driving history. This information is required to be included with the preliminary brief or full brief of evidence, so you should have had a chance to read this before court and raise any issues with the prosecutor. You are then asked to agree or disagree that your prior criminal history is correct. If you disagree, the hearing is likely to stop while the prosecutor investigates. If you agree, the record will be accepted and shown to the magistrate, and the hearing will continue. It is important to make sure that any record is accurate, because it will influence the magistrate’s sentencing. 7 The magistrate will ask you to explain yourself to help them determine an appropriate penalty. If you hear a phrase like, ‘What do you want to say?’, stay calm and speak clearly and briefly. The magistrate may ask you lots of specific questions or they may let you speak freely. The topics the magistrate will be most concerned to hear about are: a reasons for the offending that explain why it happened, as well as your understanding of why it happened, which could help to reassure the magistrate that you can prevent it reoccurring; b whether you are remorseful (i.e. sorry for what happened) and if you have apologised or made amends in any way, for example by paying for damaged items to be repaired; c anything you have done since the offence to ensure it does not happen again; d personal details such as: – your age, occupation and financial circumstances, – your family situation including any caring responsibilities and who lives with you and who supports you, whether or not you have stable housing, – any medical or mental health issues that impacted you at the time of the offending (or that are currently impacting you) and any treatment you were or are undergoing and any support you have in place, – why you need your driver licence (if you are in danger of losing it); – how the recording of a conviction may affect you in the future; for example, how it may affect your employment or your ability to obtain a Working With Children Check; 8 The magistrate will sentence you. (See Chapter 1.3: Sentencing in the Magistrates’ Court.)