Section 18 and section 20

[busta233]

What is the difference between a section 18 and a section 20. Do they both carry the same sentence. I know somebody (a bully) who was charged on a sct 18 and then changed to a sct 20. Although he is a thug he as got away with being charged in the past so he has no previous against him for beating people up. Could he get a custodial sentence or is it just wishful thinking. Sorry for sounding bitter toward this person but i have been on the receiving end of his behaviour.

[Ethel]

The difference is INTENT.

S.18 is the intent to kill, s.20 the intent to do serious harm.

s.20 maximum prison sentence is 5 years, s.18 maximum sentence is life.

So he could get a prison sentence - impossible to guess with the information given.

[busta233]

thank you ethel. This lad beat up an old man (60 years old) and jumped on his head. He was charged with sct 18 which was later dropped to sct 20.

[fredpuli47]

Not quite, Ethel. S 18 is wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent to do some grievous bodily harm (or with intent to resist the lawful detainer or apprehension of somebody). It's not with intent to kill. If it were, the offence would be attempted murder.( What is confusing is that someone who commits what would be the s18 offence, not intending to kill, but , in fact , by doing so causes the death of the victim, is guilty of murder.)

Nothing is certain but a bad s20 attracts a custodial sentence.It's impossible to say in this case because so much depends on the circumstances of the offence and the offender.

[blondie123]

s. 18 is not the intent to kill. it is the intent to cause GBH.
if they intended to kill it would be murder or attempted murder.

Section 20 is causing gbh without specific intent.

[phil04029]

all i can add to this is that i had an EX partner who got done with section 18 and didnt get jail..had no previous....but i also know some1 who again didnt have previous and was charged with section 20 and is now serving 5years

[fredpuli47]

I should have added that s20 is unlawfully and maliciously wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm upon another. The difference, therefore, between s18 and s20 is that the s18 requires an intent to cause grievous [ i.e serious] bodily harm whereas s20 does not.

[seatrout]

Unfortunately many offenders charged with s18 offer a guilty plea to s20 at court and Judges put pressure on the prosecution to accept the plea. In either case a custodial sentence is likely

[Buenchico]

It's unusual for Ethel to get anything wrong, especially within the 'Law' section, but as others have stated Section 18 involves an intent to do serious harm and not an intent to kill (which would lead to a charge of 'attempted murder').

For a summary of the law, read Sections 5 and 6 on this page from the Crown Prosecution Service website:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/section5/chapter_c .html#10

GBH (even within Section 18) is a serious offence which nearly always results in a custodial sentence. From the limited information given, I'd guess at somewhere between 1 and 3 years.

Chris

[Buenchico]

Oops!

Sorry about the typo. My phrase 'even within Section 18' should, of course, read 'even within Section 20'.

Chris

[busta233]

thank you all of you for your help - just keeping my fingers crossed that this person gets a custodial sentence and is taught a lesson. I heard he was charged with a sct18 and later dropped to a sct 20, so i believe that he would have pleaded guilty to that charge (sct 20).

[joffwatts]

im on a section 18 charge at the moment it means intending to cause grevious bodily harm.... the intent part is hard to prove so alot of cases are dropped to gbh section 20...... section 20 gbh has a maximum sentence of 5 years section 18 carries a life sentence although life is unlikely

[Kais177]

Hi guys just wanted to share my expirece with you lot
I was charged with s18 and 20 and also am offensive weapon. I was cought on CCTV swinging a metal bar at a victim (not as self defence ) i attacked him 3 times and missed the 4th time I hit him on his head but the CCTV didn't catch it for like 3 sec. Me and the victim come back on the CCTV and his head was bleeding. He wrote a statement saying it was me who hit him I deny it even though you could clearly see it was me. The CCTV was HD I went to court about 8 times I had no previous conviction I was told I was going to get 4 years min by my Solictor so I sacked the solicitor and went with another 1, the victim dropped his statement but they still wanted to bring him to the court so he changed his statement saying it was not me who hit him and but clearly u could see it was me, I ended up pleading guilty to common assault and an offensive weapon I was then told I got get 4 years for weapon and 6 months for common assault by the judge. I went back in front of the judge he said "your 21 years old and I can see you are really sorry from your statement and it has effected you a lot and your family, you are working now and I am not going to take all this away from you so I am going to give you a curfew from 7-7 for 2 months so your family gets sick of seeing your face home all the time.
I used to read all these forums and 90% are them are rubbish have hope and pray to god, when you go to your trial take a pen and paper with you to make it look like ur taking notes as this will help you a lot and of you are pleading guilty just keep saying that you are really sorry and you would do anything to avoid prison sentence, the other important thing I made up was I said I looking after a kid 8 years old I pick them up after school club and they look up 2 me nd call me dad as am responsible for them, iv been going out with the kids mum for 2 years. Go in there have faith in ur self and put across to them that you are really sorry keep saying that in front of the jury everything they ask u keep saying ur sorry and ashamed I what you done. Good luck guys hope this gave you hope as I didn't see anything like this

[EcclesCake]

'Go in there have faith in urself' and ........lie your arse off.

Excellent advice!