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Criminal Defence Blog

Should I Plead Guilty To Assault?

Posted on: February 24th, 2015 by steve

Should I Plead Guilty To Assault, GBH, or Wounding?

 

Offences against the person such as assault, grievous bodily harm and wounding are serious charges. If you are being charged with any of these offences, you must seek specialist legal advice immediately.

 

This post aims to explain what these broad terms mean.

 

Grievous Bodily Harm

 

Charges of GBH, otherwise known as Section 18 assaults, are very serious charges that are always dealt with by the Crown Court and carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

 

You should only plead guilty to a charge of GBH if the injuries caused were sufficiently serious and, crucially, if your intent was to cause grievous bodily harm.

 

Wounding Without Intent

 

Wounding without intent, or Section 20 assault, is the appropriate charge where grievous bodily harm was caused but the intention was only to cause some harm or pain. This charge can be heard in the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court and carries a maximum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment, so you can start to appreciate how important it is to make sure you are facing the appropriate charge and do not plead guilty to a charge that is too serious.

 

Actual Bodily Harm

 

Actual bodily harm, or Section 47 assault, is appropriate where bodily harm has been caused but the intention was only to assault them.

 

These charges can be heard in the magistrates’ court or Crown Court and carry a maximum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment.

 

Common Assault

 

Common assault, or Section 39, is appropriate where unlawful force is applied against another person or where that person fears that immediate force will be used against them.

 

Common assault can only be dealt with in the magistrates’ court and carries a maximum sentence of 6 months’ imprisonment, although more lenient sentences such as community orders can be imposed at the court’s discretion.

 

If you are being investigated for or charged with an assault charge, contact us now for a free consultation on 01623 397200.

Prolific and Priority Offenders Report Recommendations

Posted on: February 16th, 2015 by steve

Policy Exchange has published a new report focused on Prolific and Priority Offenders entitled ‘Swift and Certain. A New Paradigm For Criminal Justice’.

 

The report makes recommendations for allowing the criminal justice system to be swift, certain and proportionate.

 

Recommendations include:

 

  • Conditional Behaviour Orders – the proposal of a new Conditional Behaviour Order (CBO) as a new requirement for Community Orders, with punitive responses to non-compliance.  The Conditional Behaviour Order would specify particular behavioural requirements including drug testing, alcohol monitoring or GPS tagging and would specify corresponding sanctions for non-compliance.
  • Breaches of Community Orders – the report recommends that breaches of Community Orders are dealt with in a way that is much more focused on prolific and priority offenders, requiring proceedings to be brought within 24 hours to specialist courts and recommending curfew orders or custody as sanctions.
  • Suspended Sentence Orders – the report recommends that Suspended Sentence Orders are dealt with by considering the future behaviour of the offender and with an increased monitoring, with any breaches resulting in proceedings within 24 hours.
  • Police Courts – the report recommends the introduction of new police courts, whereby magistrates sit in or near police stations to deal with low-level guilty pleas where appropriate, allowing cases to be heard on the spot without being sent to court.
  • Fast track of prolific and priority offenders – the report suggests that prolific or priority offenders should be dealt with by specific magistrates or District Judges and should be sentenced within 24 hours of being charged when they will plead guilty.

 

These recommendations raise many concerns relating to the need for a person accused of an offence to obtain accurate, independent legal advice.

 

We are certain that sentencing people who may believe they should plead guilty in such a short timescale will see many people convicted of crimes they should never have pleaded guilty to.

 

We speak to many people who are charged with offences and are, a few days later, still processing what has happened and only just feeling able to reach out for legal advice.

 

If you are being charged with a criminal offence, contact our team now for a free initial consultation on 01623 397200.

 

 

 

Turning Sex Into A Crime: Do Rape Laws Go Too Far?

Posted on: February 13th, 2015 by steve

We were interested to read the article by barrister, Jon Holbrook, on Spiked Online regarding rape laws and the treatment of drunken, regrettable sex as the crime of rape.

 

The article says, amongst other things,

 

There is a line to be drawn between sex that is criminal and sex that lacks the criminal culpability to warrant a lengthy prison sentence. In recent years, that line has moved so that those who deserve the shameful tag ‘rapist’ are now joined by some who do not.

 

We support the basis of this article entirely, and this classification of men who take advantage of casual sexual encounters and end up facing charges of rape is a large part of the reason why the Forrest Williams team are so dedicated to defending innocent people against sexual offence charges.

 

Sex is not a crime.  Drunken sex is not a crime.  Drunken sex that you regret the next morning is not a crime.  Drunken sex that you regret when your partner finds out about it, is not a crime.

 

If you are being charged with a sexual offence, contact us now on 01623 397200.

 

We’ll fight for you, because we believe in you.