The Courts System

Magistrates in England and Wales (2024–25)

14,636

Court judges in England and Wales (2024–25)

3,578

Months max sentence per charge in magistrates' court

12

Members of a Crown Court jury

12

An executive agency of the Ministry of Justice responsible for the administration of courts and tribunals. HMCTS provides the infrastructure: judges and magistrates, independent of HMCTS, make the decisions.

All criminal cases start here. Presided over by either lay magistrates (panels of two or three, advised by a legally qualified court legal adviser) or District Judges (professional lawyers sitting alone). Maximum sentence per charge: 12 months' imprisonment and a £5,000 fine. Less formal than the Crown Court; cases move faster. Most summary-only offences and many either-way offences are dealt with here.

Handles the most serious cases. Presided over by a Circuit Judge, Recorder, or High Court Judge. A jury of twelve decides the facts and returns a verdict; the judge passes sentence on conviction. Operates from Crown Court centres across England and Wales.

• Summary-only: magistrates' court only (most motoring, common assault, low-level criminal damage)
• Either-way: magistrates' or Crown Court (theft, fraud, many stalking and harassment offences including s.4A PHA 1997). Magistrates can decline jurisdiction if too serious; the defendant has an independent right to elect jury trial regardless.
• Indictable-only: Crown Court only (murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery). Sent up after an initial appearance in the magistrates' court.

• Transfer from magistrates' court (automatic, on seriousness, or on defendant's election for either-way)
• PTPH, Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing within 28 days; plea entered, directions given
• Case management hearings as the judge directs (forensic evidence, disclosure, expert reports, special measures)
• Trial: prosecution opens and calls witnesses; defence challenges and may call its own; closing submissions; judge sums up; jury deliberates and returns verdict

The judge has wide powers to direct service of evidence, defence case statements, expert reports and the trial date. Directions are court orders. A party that breaches them must explain itself; sanctions can include exclusion of evidence that should have been disclosed. The defence case statement triggers the CPS's obligation to consider secondary disclosure.

A defendant can apply under section 6 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 for dismissal on the grounds that the prosecution evidence, taken at its highest, could not support conviction by a properly directed jury. If granted, the defendant is acquitted; reinstatement requires leave of a High Court judge, a very high bar. Where the case rests on unverified screenshots and forensic examinations have produced nothing incriminating, this is a powerful tool.

A separate remedy. The Crown Court can stay proceedings where (Category 1) a fair trial is no longer possible, for example where defence evidence has been destroyed or material lost, or (Category 2) it would offend the court's sense of justice and propriety to continue, regardless of whether a fair trial would technically be possible. Following R v Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court ex parte Bennett [1994] 1 AC 42. Dismissal addresses the sufficiency of the evidence; abuse of process addresses the conduct of the prosecution itself. They can be pursued together.

HMCTS's digital case management system, rolled out across the magistrates' and Crown Courts. Designed to replace older systems with a single workflow for police, CPS, courts, defence and judiciary. It has been the subject of significant operational difficulties and the Public Accounts Committee has repeatedly criticised its delivery.

The Crown Court backlog stands at unprecedented levels, over 73,000 outstanding cases in 2025. The wait between charge and trial routinely exceeds two years and in many serious cases is longer. The backlog is the consequence of court closures, judicial recruitment shortfalls, sitting day limits, the loss of barristers from criminal practice, and the long tail of the pandemic. For defendants, it means years of bail conditions, employment damage and uncertainty before resolution.

• Magistrates' to Crown Court: by way of rehearing (conviction or sentence)
• Crown Court to Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): leave required; on conviction (safety of verdict) or sentence (manifestly excessive or wrong in principle)
• Court of Appeal to Supreme Court: only where the Court of Appeal certifies a point of law of general public importance and grants leave