Crown Court Compendium

Updated March 2026

The main aim of this Compendium is to provide guidance on directing the jury in Crown Court trials and when sentencing, though it contains some practical suggestions in other areas, for example jury management, which it is hoped will be helpful.

It is appreciated that the users of this Compendium will have widely differing degrees of experience in trying and sentencing in Crown Court cases. It is intended to be inclusive, and therefore to meet the needs of the most inexperienced Recorder. It is appreciated that some of the contents will cover areas of law, practice and procedure already well known to more experienced judges and will therefore be more helpful to some than to others. It is also appreciated that some judges and Recorders will have developed their own practices, procedures and formulae for summing up with which they feel comfortable and which they prefer to those suggested in this Compendium. The intention is to provide useful guidance, but not to be at all prescriptive.

The Compendium consists of two separate parts. Part I deals with jury and trial management and summing up. Part II deals with sentencing in the Crown Court.