What is a ‘Charge’?
A person is the subject of a ‘charge’ when a complaint that the person ‘broke the law’ is made to a Court or Tribunal. “Breaking the law” can be described in a number of ways. Another common variant of the phrase is “committing an offence”.
The most common type of charge occurs when police allege a person has committed an offence. This is referred to as a criminal offence.
What happens first when you’re charged with a Criminal Offence?
In Queensland, when you’re charged with a criminal offence, the police will issue you with a ‘first Court date’. You will have to appear personally in a Magistrates Court on that first Court date, even if you have a lawyer.
The Police will be represented on the first Court date by the ‘Prosecution’.
The Court will not decide whether you are guilty of an offence on the first Court date, nor will it ‘sentence’ or punish you for the offence.
The only time you will be sentenced for the offence is when you plead guilty to it (that is, admit to the Court that you committed the offence), or when you are found by the Court to have committed the offence (and this will only happen after a ‘trial’).
The Prosecution must prove to the Court beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed an offence. Until that occurs, you are presumed to be innocent. As such, the Prosecution must present evidence to the Court to convince it that you are guilty of an offence. You do not have to prove you are innocent of an offence, meaning you do not have to present any evidence in relation to the offence if you do not wish to do so (although it would probably be good idea to present evidence showing you are innocent or not guilty of the offence if you had such evidence).
On the first Court date, the Court will simply look to make ‘procedural Orders’. For example, if you need time to retain a lawyer, or if you wish to negotiate with the Police via the Prosecution, the Court will adjourn the matter to come back before the Court at a later date so you can source a lawyer or negotiate.
What happens after the First Court Date?
After the first Court date there may be a number of procedural Court appearances. At some stage during those appearances you will have to tell the Court whether you wish to plead guilty to an offence, or not guilty.
If you plead guilty to an offence, you will be sentenced for it as soon as possible after you tell the Court you wish to plead guilty. The Court will impose a penalty upon you when it sentences you. Some common penalties are fines, good behaviour bonds, probation orders and imprisonment, although there are many more penalties available to the Court.
If you plead not guilty to an offence the Court will list your matter for ‘trial’.
The ‘trial’ is the Court event at which the Prosecution presents its evidence that you committed the offence to the Court.
Before the ‘trial’ the Prosecution has to give you a copy of the evidence it intends on presenting to the Court.
You also get an opportunity at the trial to present any evidence that you are innocent, or not guilty, to the Court.
Once all the evidence has been heard, the Court decides whether it is satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the offence.
The Court only makes a decision based on the evidence it hears during the trial; it cannot listen to media opinion, and it does not have power to conduct its own investigations into matters.
If the Court is convinced after a trial that you are guilty of an offence, it will find you guilty of the offence. It will then sentence you.
Article published by Kyle Barram, solicitor on 23 February 2016. Kyle is a criminal lawyer practising out of Townsville.