Standard 11

Challenge bad decisions in court

If we think a court has made the wrong decision we will try to get the decision changed.

11.1 Sometimes we can ask the court to think again (appeal) about its decision.

We can ask the court to think again when:

1. We think the person accused of the crime is dangerous and should not be let out of prison until after the trial.

   The crime must be a serious one. In these cases we can ask a Crown Court Judge to think again immediately.

2. Sometimes a Judge stops a court case before the jury have decided if the person accused of the crime did it or not.

   In this case we can ask the Appeal Court to think about whether the decision was right.

   We can ask the Appeal Court to do this within 24 hours.

3. We can ask the Attorney General to ask the Appeal Court to think again about punishments (sentences) that are too short (unduly lenient).

   We can also do this when someone contacts us to say they think the sentence was too short.

   If someone contacts us to say a sentence was too short we will listen to what they say.

   We will then think about the crime.

   If we think the sentence was right we will not ask the Attorney General to appeal.

   The person who contacted us to say they didn't think the sentence was long enough can contact the Attorney General and ask her to appeal.

   We will tell people they can ask the Attorney General to appeal against sentences that are not long enough.

   We will tell Victims or their families that they can appeal to the Attorney General if they feel a sentence is not long enough.

   We have to ask the Attorney General to appeal against sentences that are not long enough within 28 days.

4. Sometimes we think a Judge or magistrate has got the law wrong.

   If the mistake is made by:

   • A magistrate
   • A crown court judge in court cases without a jury

   We can ask the court to write down why they made the decision.

   Then we can ask the High Court to tell us if they think the decision was right.

   We have 21 days to do this.

5. We can ask the Administrative Court to look at some cases. The Administrative Court will think about whether the right decision was made.

   The Administrative court can look at some decisions made in magistrates' court.

   They can also look at some decisions made by Crown Court Judges.

   We have 3 months to appeal to the Administrative Court.

11.2 People accused of a crime (defendants) have more chances to ask the court to think again about their decision (appeal).

When they do this we send a Prosecutor to make sure our point of view is heard by the court.

Defendants can ask the Appeal Court to think again about their sentence.

If this happens we only send a Prosecutor to the court if the court asks us to, or in special cases.

11.3 Sometimes a person is found not guilty of a crime by a Crown Court and we think the law is not clear. In these cases we can ask the Attorney General to look at the case.

If the Attorney General thinks the law is not clear then she can ask the Appeal Court to make the law clear.

11.4 If the Appeal Court makes a decision we disagree with we can do two things.

1. We can ask the Appeal Court to say that part of the case needs to be thought about again by the Supreme Court.

2. Or, we can ask the Supreme Court to look at the decision.

   If a defendant asks the Supreme Court to think about a case we send our Prosecutors to speak for us.

11.5 When a court is asked to think again about a decision we will tell the victims.

We will explain the court's decision to the victims.