Criminal Procedure Act

The Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (the Act) includes 5 stages:

Admin

The main components of this stage are:

proceedings commence with the filing of a charging document
the defendant makes his or her first appearances
proceedings for category 4 offences transfer to the High Court
pleas and elections are entered.

Part 2 of the Act sets out the commencement of proceedings and preliminary steps, with 2 subparts:

filing a charging document
notifying defendant of court appearance.

Part 3 of the Act sets out the procedure before trial, with 8 subparts, 2 of which are particularly relevant to the admin stage:

pleas
decision regarding trial by jury for category 3 offences (elections).

The Criminal Procedure Rules 2012 (the Rules) includes rules covering:

content of a charging document
how to file a charging document
how to authenticate a charging document.

The Rules also include requirements for parties to

provide addresses for service
enter a plea by notice
observe the timeframe between first and second appearance.

Review

This stage begins following a 'not guilty' plea:

proceedings for category 2, 3 and 4 offences will have case review unless a Judge sets aside the requirement
proceedings for category 1 offences are not required to have case review and will generally skip this stage and go straight to the trial stage
the stage ends with adjournment for trial (judge-alone) or trial callover (jury).

Part 3 of the Act includes the procedure that may occur during the review stage. This includes the following subparts:

Case management
Sentence indications
Determination of level of trial court for category 2 and 3 offences
Trial court, place of trial, transfer of proceedings to trial court, and procedure for trial(external link)

The Rules include rules relating to the content and filing of the case management memorandum (CMM), the information that must be given to an unrepresented defendant instead of a CMM, and the timeframe between entering a not guilty plea and the case review hearing.

Trial

The trial stage allows for parties to apply for a pre-trial admissibility hearing for a judge-alone trial. For a jury trial, trial callover memoranda (TCMs), trial callover and pre-trial applications are all covered.

Part 3 of the Act includes the following subparts are relevant to the trial stage:

Provisions applying only to judge-alone procedure
Provisions applying only to jury trial procedure.

Part 4 of the Act sets out the procedure for the trial, including 3 subparts:

Provisions applying to judge-alone trials
Provisions applying to jury trials
Provisions applying to both judge-alone and jury trials.

The Rules includes rules relating to the timeframe

for making pre-trial applications
for filing formal statements and TCMs
for between the case review hearing and the trial call-over (in jury trial cases).

The Rules also set out additional information that must be included in TCMs and the information that must be given to an unrepresented defendant instead of a TCM.

Rule 5.9 sets out the procedure for commencing a jury trial.

Sentencing

The Act does not specify the procedure for sentencing hearings although it does prohibit sentencing of category 2, 3 and 4 offences taking place in the absence of the defendant.

Appeal (including retrials and rehearings)

The appeal stage includes retrials, rehearings, correction of erroneous sentences and appeals.

Part 5 of the Act sets out the provisions for retrials and rehearings, and provisions relating to the correction of erroneous sentences.

Part 6 of the Act sets out the subparts relating to appeals:

Part 8 of the Rules includes rules for appeals to a District Court and to the High Court.

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This page was last updated: 06th March 2020