The verdict and sentencing
Many witnesses choose to leave the court building once they’ve given their evidence and so do not hear the outcome of the trial immediately.
If you do leave court without knowing the verdict, you’ll usually be informed by the officer in the case or the Witness Care Unit if you’re a prosecution witness. If you’re a defence witness, you can ask the defence lawyer for the outcome.
The defendant will either have been found guilty or not guilty, or there may be a hung jury.
Hung jury: this can happen in a Crown Court trial when the jury cannot reach a verdict – either unanimously (all 12 jurors agree) or by majority (at least 10 jurors agree). If they’re unable to agree, the judge will discharge the jury. The trial ends without the defendant being found guilty or not guilty. After this, the CPS decides whether to hold a retrial.
Not guilty verdict: a not guilty verdict is called an acquittal. The defendant will not serve a sentence and is free to go. The criminal justice process is now concluded in the eyes of the law.
Guilty verdict: once a guilty verdict has been made, the offender will be sentenced. Sometimes this takes place immediately, but often a sentencing hearing is set for days, weeks or even months later. This allows the judge or magistrate to have all the information they need to appropriately sentence the offender.
There’s more information on how offenders are sentenced in this video from the Sentencing Council:
Video Description: An overview of how sentencing works in England and Wales, the types of sentence offenders can get and how judges and magistrates go about working out what sentence to give someone convicted of a criminal offence.
