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FIRST APPEARANCE FOR EITHER-WAY OFFENCES
 Either-way offences are offences which can be tried either in the magistrates' court or in the Crown Court, depending on how serious they are. These include offences such as theft, burglary, and harassment.

For either-way offences, in this initial appearance there is:

- a plea before venue where the defendant is asked to indicate a plea of guilty or not guilty, and 
- an allocation of the case to either the magistrates' court or the Crown Court.

This allocation procedure was previously called the mode of trial proceedings. 

So what actually happens here? Firstly, a member of the court, normally the legal advisor or the district judge will read the allegation of the offence to the defendant and explain very clearly to the defendant what this allegation means, what an either-way offence is, and what the consequences of pleading guilty or not guilty are.

The court will then ask whether the defendant intends to plead guilty. If the defendant says yes, the court treats this as though the defendant has just pleaded guilty at a trial at the magistrates' court. The defendant is convicted and the court proceeds to sentencing either in the magistrates' court or alternatively, the case is sent to the Crown Court for sentencing.

If the defendant indicates an intention to plead not guilty or remains silent, which is equivalent to indicating a not guilty plea, then the following procedure is quite different.  The court must explain very clearly to the defendant a number of matters related to the next procedure related to where the case will be allocated.

Then the court will invite the prosecutor and the defendant to make representations related to the case, including how the court should allocate the case and any previous convictions of the defendant. Following this, the court will exercise its power to allocate the case for trial.

Quiz