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9084 AS LAW — Unit 2.2: The Criminal Justice System
Unit 2.2 — The Criminal Justice System - The Police - Pre-trial - Crown Prosecution Service - Sentencing - Young Offenders - Criminal Appeal
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Law 9084Unit 2.2: Criminal Justice System
Notes prepared by: Sonia Lee
Table of Contents
Page No.
1. The Police 2-9
2. The Pre-Trial 10-15
3. Crown Prosecution Service 16-18
4. Sentencing 19-25
5. Young Offenders 26-29
6. Criminal Appeals 30-33
Prepared by Sonia Lee
,The Police
Who are the police?
• The police is civil force of a state, responsible for the prevention & detection of crime & the
maintenance of public order.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE)
• Main piece of legislation regulating police powers.
• PACE was brought in following recommendations set out by the Royal Commission on
Criminal Procedure (RCCP).
• The Act provides a comprehensive code of police powers to stop, search, arrest and detain
& interrogate members of the public
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (CJPOA)
• Extended police powers significantly
• Introduced some recommendations of theRCCJ, & other changes that the RCCJ was opposed
to, such as the abolition of the right to silence.
Serious Organised Crime & Police Act 2005 (SOCPA)
• Further increased police powers.
• E.g. Carrying out arrest without a warrant.
Codes of Practice
• The statutory rules on police powers are contained within the Codes of Practice, which is
drawn up by the Home Office under s.66 of PACE.
• Do not form part of the law, but which provide extra details on the provisions of PACE
• Breach of the Codes cannot be ground for legal action.
• If breach is serious, evidence obtained as a result may be in admissible in a criminal trial.
Pre-Arrest Powers
Stop & Account
• Police officers are free to ask members of the public questions in order to prevent and
detect crime.
• However, members of the public are not obliged to answer such questions nor go to a police
station unless they are lawfully arrested.
Prepared by Sonia Lee
, • Code of Practice A states that:
o There is no national requirement for an officers who request a person in a public
place to account for themselves to make any record of the encounter, or to give the
person a receipt (proof the information has been received).
• Rice v Connolly (1966)
o The appellant was spotted by the police officers behaving suspiciously in an area
where burglaries had taken place that night.
o He refused to answer questions posed by the officers and said: “If you want me, you
will have to arrest me.”
o He was arrested and eventually convicted of obstructing a police officer in the
execution of his duty.
o His conviction was quashed on appeal on the basis that nobody is obliged in
common law to answer police questions.
• Ricketts v Cox
o The police officers approached a defendant and another man.
o The dependent was said to have been Abu since, uncooperative and hostile to the
officers, using obscene language to provoke officers.
o The magistrates found that the defendants caused obstruction of the police officers
in the execution of their duty.
o An appeal was dismissed because while merely refusing to answer questions in
lawful, rudely refusing to do so may amount to the offence of obstruction.
• Kenlin v Gardiner
o Two schoolboys did not believe the plain-clothed men were genuine police officers.
o One of them tried to run away and the boy responded by struggling, punching and
kicking the officer.
o Both boys were convicted in the magistrates’ court of assaulting a police constable
in the execution of his duty.
o But an appeal was allowed, on the ground that the police did not have the power to
detain the boys prior to arrest, & so the boys were acting in self-defence.
• Donnelly v Jackman
o Appellant ignored a police officer’s inquires and hit the office with force.
o He was convicted of assaulting an officer in the execution of his duty.
o He argued that he officer had acted outside his duty by tapping him on the shoulder
o The Court of Appeal held that what the officer had done was not unlawful detention
but merely ‘a trivial interference with liberty’, and the conviction was uphold.
Police Reform Act 2002 (PRA)
• Under s.50 of PRA, a uniformed police officer can require a person who has behaved in an
anti-social behaviour.
• Failure to comply is an offence, may form basis of arrest under s.25 of PACE.
Stop & Search under PACE
• The exercise of power to stop & search is mainly contained in s.1 of PACE & governed by
Code of Practice A.
Prepared by Sonia Lee
, S.1 of PACE
• Under s.1 a police may search a person or vehicle in public for stolen or prohibited articles.
• S.1(3) The power can only be used where the police have reasonable grounds for suspecting
that they will find stolen or prohibited articles
• S.1 (6) any stolen or prohibited articles discovered during the search may be seized.
Code of Practice A
• The exercise of the power to stop & search governed by Code of Practice A, which states
that:
o Powers to stop & search must be used fairly, responsibly, with respect for people
being searched & without unlawful discrimination
o The Equity Act 2010: it is unlawful for police officers to discriminate against any
person on the grounds of ‘protected characteristics’ when using their powers.
• Code of Practice A provides guidance on the meaning ‘reasonable grounds for suspicion’:
o Reasonable suspicion can never be supported on the basis of personal factors. This
means that unless the police have information or intelligence which provides a
description of a person suspected of carrying the article for which there is a power
to stop and search, then following cannot be used.
S.2 of PACE
• Before searching under these powers, police officers must identify themselves & station
where they are based, & tell the person to be searched the grounds for the search.
• Under s.2(3), if not uniform, police officers a must provide documentary identification.
• R v Bristol (2007)
o A drug search conducted by a police officer was in breach of s.2 of PACE; as the
police officer had failed to give his name & station.
o Hence, an appeal was allowed because the search was unlawful.
S.117 of PACE
• Reasonable force may be used during a stop and search, but under s.2(9) the suspect cannot
be required to remove any clothing in public, except for an outer coat jacket or gloves.
Crime and Security Act 2010
• S.1 states that a record is simply made of the ethnic origin of the person searched & this
record can be made at the police station if the person is arrested.
• The record no longer states the name & address of the person searched or any damage or
injury caused during the stop & search.
Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA)
• Under s.117 of SOCPA 2005, the police are allowed to fingerprint people on the street using
a handled device to check the identity of a person.
• Once checked, the fingerprint has to be destroyed.
Other powers to stop and search
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
• S.23 allows the police to stop and search anyone who is suspected on reasonable grounds to
be in unlawful possession of a controlled drug.
Terrorism Act 2000
• Under s.44, the Home Secretary could secretly authorise the police to carry out random
stops & searches for 28 days in designated area as part of the fight against terrorism.
Prepared by Sonia Lee
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