Everything about Committal Procedure totally explained
In
law, a
committal procedure is the process by which a defendant is charged with a serious offence under the
criminal justice systems of all
common law jurisdictions outside the
United States. The committal procedure, sometimes known as a
preliminary hearing, replaces the earlier
grand jury process.
In most jurisdictions criminal offences fall into one of three groups:
There are less serious (
summary) offences which are usually heard without a
jury by a
magistrate. These are roughly equivalent to the older category of
misdemeanors (terminology that's now obsolete in most non-U.S. jurisdictions).
There are intermediate offences which are
indictable (equivalent to an old-style
felony) but which can be heard summarily. For instance, theft is usually a serious offence. If however the charge is that the defendant stole a packet of biscuits worth only a very small amount, it would probably be heard by a magistrate. In the
UK, these are known as
either-way offences, and can only be heard summarily with the defendant's consent.
Finally, there are serious matters which must be dealt with in the higher courts, usually before a jury. When one is charged with an offence of the third type, a preliminary hearing is first held by a magistrate to determine whether there's sufficient evidence to warrant committing the
defendant for trial. That is, whether there's sufficient evidence such that a properly instructed jury could (not would) find the defendant guilty. It is a very low-level test, although stricter than the grand jury procedure. The majority of committal proceedings result in a committal to trial.
In some jurisdictions the
prosecuting authority may directly present a defendant for trial regardless of the result of the committal proceedings by filing an
ex officio indictment. Equally, the prosecuting authority usually has the power to stop any prosecution by entering a
Nolle prosequi. In many jurisdictions the right of a defendant to
cross-examine witnesses during the committal is reliant on the defence establishing that it's in the interests of justice or to illuminate some relevant point. The defence rarely calls witnesses at a committal.
Though the majority of committal proceedings result in trial, the majority of committal proceedings for those accused of rape doesn't result in trial in the UK, something that campaigners have tried to change for decades.
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