How a criminal case travels from charge to verdict — where it is tried, who must prove what, and the rules governing every stage in between.
The outcome of a trial can turn as much on procedure as on the strength of the evidence. This chapter starts with the classification of offences and how it determines venue, then sets out the burden and standard of proof, followed by the disclosure duties and case management directions that shape a case before trial begins. It moves through arraignment, jury challenges and the rules of witness evidence, to submissions of no case to answer and the inferences that may be drawn from a defendant's silence, before turning to closing speeches, character directions, majority verdicts and Newton hearings. It closes with special measures for vulnerable witnesses, trials in the defendant's absence, staying proceedings as an abuse of process, and the demands of open justice.
