LAW2021 Online: Criminal Law (Spring)

Presented by Colin Beaumont, Barrister

This 1-hour session will take you through the important aspects of the Sentencing Act 2020 (or Sentencing Code if you prefer) as you probably know, the Act was brought into force on 1st December 2020 and will be the relevant piece of legislation for anyone convicted on or after 1st December 2020, regardless of the commission date of the offence.

The Act is a bit of a ‘monster’ in that it contains 420 Sections and 29 Schedules. The Code does not re-write the law as regards sentencing. It merely brings the law as regards sentencing into one easily manageable Code as opposed to it being all over the place in various bits of legislation such as the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 and the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

The course will cover the following areas:

• An overview of the contents of the Act
• The custodial powers contained in the Act for both youths and adults
• The remittal powers contained in the Act for both youths and adults

Learning aims and objectives:

• To give you a complete understanding of the various types of custodial sentences that can be imposed upon anyone within the criminal justice system
• To highlight the circumstances in which a Crown Court Judge may remit a matter to the Youth Court
• To highlight the circumstances in which a Magistrates’ Court may remit a matter to another Magistrates’ Court

Presented by Colin Beaumont, Barrister

Always a popular topic, this 1-hour session will take you through the important case-law that has come our way in the last 12 months. We all know that we should read more but our good intentions get lost in our day-to-day dealings with clients.

The session will deal with the important judgements for criminal practitioners as handed down by the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the High Court.

Everyone seems to be talking about EncroChat and the case-law will be examined. The pronouncements of the Lord Chief Justice as to how courts are to consider applications by the Crown Prosecution Service for extensions of Custody Time Limits will also be considered.

There will be an analysis of the sentences that may be imposed by a Crown Court Judge upon ‘offenders of particular concern’ – yet another recent case in which the wrong sentence was imposed because the legislation had not been brought to the attention of the sentencing Judge.

Just 3 further examples of the material under consideration:

1 – Whether a lie about fertility is capable of negating consent to sexual intercourse

2 – The correct approach when considering sending a child or young person to the Crown Court

3 – The percentage reduction of the sentence to reflect youth

Learning aims and objectives:

• The aim of the presentation will be to update you on important judgements delivered during the last 12 months.
• The object is to massively increase your knowledge and thereby make you a better advocate when dealing with these issues in court

Presented by Clive Smith, Barrister

The law in relation to disclosure has been on a statutory footing since 1996. However, in recent years it has had to adapt to the challenges of the 21^st century. Digital evidence and the disclosure of it, has presented a novel and new challenge for the courts in recent years. There has been significant talk of “digital strip-searches” in sexual offences which has led to guidance from the Court of Appeal and updates to the Attorney General’s Guidelines on disclosure.

This course will cover the following areas:

• Retention, inspection, copying, disclosure and deletion of the electronic records held by prosecution witnesses
• Case-law giving guidance as to the reach of the statutory duty
• Guidelines on disclosure and the duty upon prosecutors
• Phone calls and text messages – what should I be considering?
• Disclosure of phone records in sexual offences – is a digital strip search necessary?

Learning aims and objectives:

• How to apply the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 to digital evidence
• How to deal with the disclosure of digital evidence, such as phone calls and text messages
• How to adduce digital evidence using the hearsay provisions

Presented by Clive Smith, Barrister

Over recent years, Parliament, police and the courts, have redoubled their focus on domestic abuse allegations. Such cases often present evidential challenges and frequently raise complex arguments about hearsay, particularly res gestae.

This course is aimed at prosecuting and defence advocates, regularly appearing in domestic abuse cases in the criminal courts. This course will look at:

• The law on hearsay under the Criminal Justice Act 2003
• Previous inconsistent statements and how to refresh a witness’s memory – do I really need to treat them as hostile?
• The admissibility of previous unproven allegations
• Case law on res gestae – what’s the latest from the Divisional Court?
• Restraining orders on conviction and acquittal – some really useful case-law

Learning aims and objectives:

• How to deal with cases where hearsay is the sole and decisive evidence
• How to deal with reluctant witnesses
• How to adduce evidence of bad character where there hasn’t been a conviction
• Dealing with ancillary orders
• Sentencing in domestic abuse cases