Once a defendant is convicted or pleads guilty, the focus shifts to what happens next: the sentence the court will impose, and whether anything can be done to challenge it. As a solicitor you need to predict the likely outcome, advise on the credit a guilty plea attracts, mitigate effectively, and tell a client honestly what their chances and risks are on appeal. This is where the case ends — and where your advice has the most immediate impact on someone's liberty.
This lesson works through the process in the order a court (and then an appellate court) takes it:
- Sentencing Framework and Seriousness — the structured steps a court follows and how it measures culpability and harm.
- Guilty Plea Reduction and Newton Hearings — the credit for pleading guilty and how factual disputes are resolved.
- Pre-Sentence Information — what the court must be told before sentencing, including reports and victim statements.
- Types of Sentence — the hierarchy of penalties and the threshold for each.
- Suspended and Custodial Sentences — when custody can be suspended and how release and licence work.
- Totality and Ancillary Orders — combining sentences proportionately and the extra orders that follow.
- Magistrates' Powers and Youth Sentencing — sentencing limits, committal, and the distinct youth framework.
- Appeals from the Magistrates' Court — routes to the Crown Court and High Court.
- Appeals from the Crown Court — leave, the 'unsafe' test, and the Court of Appeal's powers.
- Further Appeals and Review — unduly lenient references, the Supreme Court, the CCRC, and judicial review.