6. What crime to charge someone with
The charge is the name of the crime that someone does and the law that makes it wrong. The prosecutor decides what to charge a suspect with after the police have arrested them.
How do prosecutors make their decision?
Prosecutors should think about these things when they make a decision about the charge:
How serious the crime was.
The court needs the chance to give the right sentence for the crime.
The case should be clear and simple.
This means that prosecutors may sometimes choose a less serious charge if there is one.
What prosecutors must NOT do
Prosecutors should never go ahead with more charges than are necessary just to encourage a defendant to plead guilty to a few of the charges.
Prosecutors should never go ahead with a more serious charge just to encourage a defendant to plead guilty to a less serious one.
Prosecutors should not change the charge just because the court or the defendant decided the case should be heard in one court rather than another.
Prosecutors must take account of any changes to the case or the people involved as the case goes along.
Difficult words
- Charge/ Charging
The charge is the name of the crime that someone does and the law that makes it wrong. The prosecutor normally decides what to charge someone with after the police have arrested them.- Guilty/ Guilty Plea/ Guilty Verdict
Someone is guilty if they do a crime. Sometimes people say they did the crime - this is called a 'confession'. If they say this in court it is called a 'guilty plea'. If a jury or a magistrate finds the defendant guilty in court, this is called a 'guilty verdict'.- Prosecutor
- The prosecutor is a professional person with legal training. Their job is to charge people suspected of doing crimes and make sure the criminal justice system deals with them in the right way. Some prosecutors work for the Crown Prosecution Service.
- Sentence
- The sentence is the punishment a judge or magistrate gives to someone found guilty of doing a crime.
- Suspect
A suspect is someone who the police think may have done a crime but they haven't been charged yet.
