The Courts
There are essentially 4 levels of court, of which most criminal cases will only see 3. These are:
- Magistrates Court
- Crown Court
- Court of Appeal
- House of Lords
The lower two courts are the Magistrates and Crown Courts. All cases start in the Magistrates courts, where it is decided which court will continue to deal with the case. The severity of the offence will determine where the case continues to and the more serious cases including murder, manslaughter and many sexual offences must be dealt with in the Crown Court.
The other two courts are the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. The Court of Appeal is exactly as it is called, and the House of Lords is the final level that you will find in the court system.
NB. It is worth nothing that there is a Criminal Cases Review Commission, which is a body run independently of the court system, and allows a review of the cases. Whether this body is wholly independent of the process is a question yet to be answered, but it exists nonetheless. Then again we have heard about independent review bodies before haven't we? IPCC Cough Cough.