criminal procedure for a rape'defendant

criminal procedure for a rape'defendant

A government department is responsible for prosecution cases, the crown prosecution service. A defendant could be brought to court after a specific procedure at the police station, which aims at finding if there is enough evidence to charge the suspect and lay an information.
In this case, MR Jones was charged with rape. This sexual offence is well classified in the criminal offences.
The first stage of a criminal trial is a pre-trial hearing, which begins with the arraignment of the defendant. He is asked to enter a plea of guilty or not.
Rape is considered an indictable offence, that is why the Crown court is the competent first instance jurisdiction, and not the magistrate’s court, which involves summary offences and a part of either-way offences.
At first, the prosecution gives a summary of the facts, and then the defendant’s advocate carry out his defence’s final statement, the speech in mitigation. If the defender pleads guilty, as the burden of proof is on the Crown, the prosecutor introduces the prosecution case. Then, all witnesses who testify must take an oath. After the prosecutor’s examination-in-chief, the defence proceeds to a cross-examination. Therefore, a re-examination is proposed, followed by the closing statement, after what a jury, which would have sworn, returns a guilty verdict, or discharges the defendant. The jury is used for serious criminal offences, like rapes, to determine if the defendant is guilty or not. But the judge is still necessary to ensure that the process is fair and to determine the sentence.