http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1988/33

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/33/section/23/1994-02-05

Criminal Justice Act 1988

An Act to make fresh provision for extradition; to amend the rules of evidence in criminal proceedings; to provide for the reference by the Attorney General of certain questions relating to sentencing to the Court of Appeal; to amend the law with regard to the jurisdiction and powers of criminal courts, the collection, enforcement and remission of fines imposed by coroners, juries, supervision orders, the detention of children and young persons, probation and the probation service, criminal appeals, anonymity in cases of rape and similar cases, orders under sections 4 and 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 relating to trials on indictment, orders restricting the access of the public to the whole or any part of a trial on indictment or to any proceedings ancillary to such a trial and orders restricting the publication of any report of the whole or any part of a trial on indictment or any such ancillary proceedings, the alteration of names of petty sessions areas, officers of inner London magistrates’ courts and the costs and expenses of prosecution witnesses and certain other persons; to make fresh provision for the payment of compensation by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board; to make provision for the payment of compensation for a miscarriage of justice which has resulted in a wrongful conviction; to create an offence of torture and an offence of having an article with a blade or point in a public place; to create further offences relating to weapons; to create a summary offence of possession of an indecent photograph of a child; to amend the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 in relation to searches, computer data about fingerprints and bail for persons in customs detention; to make provision in relation to the taking of body samples by the police in Northern Ireland; to amend the Bail Act 1976; to give a justice of the peace power to authorise entry and search of premises for offensive weapons; to provide for the enforcement of the Video Recordings Act 1984 by officers of a weights and measures authority and in Northern Ireland by officers of the Department of Economic Development; to extend to the purchase of easements and other rights over land the power to purchase land conferred on the Secretary of State by section 36 of the Prison Act 1952; and for connected purposes.

1988-07-29

text

text/xml

Statute Law Database

2024-05-17

1994-02-05

Criminal Justice Act 1988

s. 36(2)(b)(v) and word

Offensive Weapons Act 2019

s. 13(3)(b)

s. 70(1)

Criminal Justice Act 1988

s. 139AZA(1)(a)(iii) and word

Offensive Weapons Act 2019

s. 13(4)(b)

s. 70(1)

Criminal Justice Act 1988

s. 36(3A)

(3B)

Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008

s. 46(2)

s. 153(7)

Criminal Justice Act 1988

s. 41(4A)

Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004

Sch. 10

para. 28

s. 60

Part II Documentary Evidence in Criminal Proceedings

23 First-hand hearsay.

1

Subject—

a

to subsection (4) below;

b

to paragraph 1A of Schedule 2 to the M1Criminal Appeal Act 1968 (evidence given orally at original trial to be given orally at retrial); and

c

to section 69 of the M2Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (evidence from computer records),

a statement made by a person in a document shall be admissible in criminal proceedings as evidence of any fact of which direct oral evidence by him would be admissible if—

i

the requirements of one of the paragraphs of subsection (2) below are satisfied; or

ii

the requirements of subsection (3) below are satisfied.

2

The requirements mentioned in subsection (1)(i) above are—

a

that the person who made the statement is dead or by reason of his bodily or mental condition unfit to attend as a witness;

b

that—

i

the person who made the statement is outside the United Kingdom; and

ii

it is not reasonably practicable to secure his attendance; or

c

that all reasonable steps have been taken to find the person who made the statement, but that he cannot be found.

3

The requirements mentioned in subsection (1)(ii) above are—

a

that the statement was made to a police officer or some other person charged with the duty of investigating offences or charging offenders; and

b

that the person who made it does not give oral evidence through fear or because he is kept out of the way.

4

Subsection (1) above does not render admissible a confession made by an accused person that would not be admissible under section 76 of the M3Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.