The magistrates court is designed to handle less serious crimes. According to Gov. UK, examples of these can be most motoring offences, minor criminal offences, and common assaults where the victim hasn’t experienced significant harm.
Crown Courts are used to deal with the most serious crimes committed, the crimes of Jack Brewer are the perfect example of crimes that are dealt with in a Crown Court. In a Crown Court, proceedings will be overseen by a judge, or in severe cases, a High Court judge will oversee proceedings. The jury, made up of 12 members of the public will have the casting vote on if they are innocent or guilty.
Whereas in a magistrates court, you will have a district judge who sits alongside two or three magistrates. One of the biggest and easiest differences between the two is that in a magistrate court, there isn’t a jury. Even though a magistrates court doesn’t deal with the more serious cases. Any adult case will begin in a magistrates court.
To decide which court hears which case, three categories can be used to help decide where the case needs to be heard. The Sentencing Council outlines these as:
Summary offences - less serious cases that can only be heard in a magistrates court.
Either-way offences - these are cases that can be heard in either a magistrates court or a Crown Court. These offences are more serious than summary offences, they can be cases of theft, burglary, or drug offences as examples.
Indictable offences - these cases can only be heard in a Crown Court. Examples of these are murder, rape, and, robbery.
The only time that magistrates will need to decide on where a case is sent is when a case is classed as an either-way offence. They decide if the offence is suited to trial in a magistrates court or a Crown Court.
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