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Section 57A: Introductory

Crime and Disorder Act 1998 · 1998 c. 37View on legislation.gov.uk

This provision is omitted
It is retained for historical reference and may not reflect the law currently in force.

Part 3A: Live links for accused's attendance at certain preliminary , Sentencing and other hearings

OMITTED FROM CURRENT TEXT on 2022-06-28 by Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

The text below is from the dated revised snapshot immediately preceding this status change. It is historical and is not current law. View the historical source.

This Part applies to—

preliminary hearings and sentencing hearings in the course of proceedings for an offence, and
enforcement hearings.

In this Part—

  • “bail” includes remand to local authority accommodation in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012;

  • “enforcement hearing” means a hearing relating to collection, discharge, satisfaction or enforcement of—

    ((a)) a sum that has been adjudged to be paid on conviction by a magistrates' court or the Crown Court, or

    ((b)) a financial penalty that is enforceable in accordance with section 85(6) and (7) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 as if it were such a sum (including a hearing to determine whether a financial penalty is so enforceable);

  • “preliminary hearing” means a hearing in the proceedings held before the start of the trial (within the meaning of subsection (11A) or (11B) of section 22 of the 1985 Act) including, in the case of proceedings in the Crown Court, a preparatory hearing held under—

    (a)section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (cases of serious or complex fraud); or

    (b)section 29 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (other serious, complex or lengthy cases);

  • “relevant youth offending team”, in relation to a case where—means the youth offending team (established under section 39) whose functions are exercisable in relation to the accused, the offender or the person liable to pay the sum or financial penalty;the accused, the offender or the person liable to pay the sum or financial penalty has not attained the age of 18 years, orthe accused or the offender has attained the age of 18 years since proceedings for the offence were begun, and the court has decided to continue to deal with the case as if he or she had not attained that age,

  • “sentencing hearing” means any hearing following conviction which is held for the purpose of—proceedings (in a magistrates' court) relating to committal to the Crown Court for sentencing; sentencing the offender or determining how the court should deal with him in respect of the offence (including reviewing, amending or revoking such a sentence or determination); or determining—and here “sentence” includes any way in which a court has determined that the offender should be dealt with in respect of the offence.how the offender has complied with a sentence given in respect of the offence, orhow the offender should be dealt with in respect of compliance with such a sentence;

A reference to a person taking part in a hearing includes—

giving evidence in the hearing, and
attending the hearing when not giving evidence.

A “live audio link”, in relation to a person (P) taking part in a hearing, is a live telephone link or other arrangement which—

enables P to hear all other persons taking part in the hearing who are not in the same location as P, and
enables all other persons taking part in the hearing who are not in the same location as P to hear P.

A hearing is conducted wholly as an audio hearing if—

directions have been given under section 57B, 57E or 57F for all of the persons taking part in the hearing to do so through a live audio link, and
all of those persons take part in the hearing in accordance with those directions.

A “live video link”, in relation to a person (P) taking part in a hearing, is a live television link or other arrangement which—

enables P to see and hear all other persons taking part in the hearing who are not in the same location as P, and
enables all other persons taking part in the hearing who are not in the same location as P to see and hear P.

A hearing is conducted wholly as a video hearing if—

directions have been given, whether under section 57B, 57E or 57F or any other power, for all of the persons taking part in the hearing to do so through a live video link, and
all of those persons take part in the hearing in accordance with those directions.

The following matters are to be disregarded for the purposes of subsections (5) and (7)—

the extent (if any) to which a person is unable to see or hear by reason of any impairment of eyesight or hearing;
the effect of any direction or order which provides for one person taking part in a hearing to be prevented by means of a screen or other arrangement from seeing another person taking part in the hearing.

Subsections (4) to (9) apply for the purposes of this Part.

Nothing in this Part is to be regarded as affecting any power of a court—

to make an order, give directions or give leave of any description in relation to any witness (including the accused), or
to exclude evidence at its discretion (whether by preventing questions being put or otherwise).

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.