This is a legal advice question and is as follows:

My agency counsels a young woman who is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. 
She decided that she wished to pursue the matter via the Courts feeling that she was prepared for whatever consequences followed.
She made a statement to the police, they arrested the alleged perpetrator (a family member) and, astoundingly, he made a full confession.
She is hugely relieved and looks forward to the Court date,which was yesterday.
He appears and 'declines to enter a plea'; case adjourned.

The young woman now in a state of shock; what does this mean?  Police gave her impression that this means case will drag on and on.
I have explored some legal websites but none have this specific topic - or my searches aren't good enough.
We can't become directly involved because of counselling status and she has no legal representation as it was a police prosecution.
Anybody knowledgeable out there who can advise on the implications of this tactic so we can prepare her?

Thanks in advance,

Mutty

I assume this was at a magistrates court?

One of the first stages in a case is `plea before venue' proceedings.  The idea is that if the defendant pleads guilty, the magistrates can pass sentence or if they do not have the sentencing power required (for more serious cases) they can send the accused to the crown court for sentencing.  The idea is to cut the cost to the taxpayer of having to set up a crown court case only for the defendent to get there and plead guilty.

By declining to enter a plea at this stage the defendent forces the system to go to the crown court for trial by jury.  I assume the police in this case are expecting the defendent to enter a not guilty plea hence the comment about dragging on.  It may be of course that the defence are keeping their options open.

(I'm not a legal expert so don't take the above as "expert advice")

Yes, you're probably right. It will be adjourned so hopefully next time he will plead.

Of course this could be either guilty or not guilty. Sorry to say this, but he might try a not guilty so the case will go to trial. This might mean the girl cannot face giving evidence and the case collapses, confession or not.

I hope not, for her sake, but the defence may be trying some brinkmanship here. It may not be nice, but I've had to give this sort of advice in the past ( I don't do criminal law now) to see if the prosecution had all the ammunition to present its case.

regards

Rod

I can only speak from experience in Scotland (and not as a lawyer but as a support worker in a similar position to yourself) and many people don't plead or put in a not guilty plea, apparantly to prolong the agony for the victim.  The case will then prepare to go for trial and the witness/victim has to live the fear and trauma of going to court, having the perpetrator in his/her community (with the possibility of constant intimidation) and the knowledge that the perpetrator may not go to jail.  Best case scenario for perpetrator is the witness/victim retracts statement and case falls apart  he/she is secure in the knowledge that they have made witness/victims life hell thereby compensating for the jail term he/she may receive.  The perpetrator can then at a later date (even on the day of the trial) put in a guilty plea and possibly reduce the sentence - meanwhile the victim/witness goes through hell for up to a year.  It is really unfair how people subjected to sexual exploitation are forced to continually relive the trauma and I've known of numerous cases where the victim is considered to be an unreliable witness due to a horrendous childhood and the case is eventually given a 'not proven' verdict after the victim has given evidence and had to go through the whole trial.  It makes me so angry that these beasts can get away with it.   Anyway that's enough from me as I'm about to get on my sex offenders soapbox and rant ...

I understand what you are saying and agree.

However..

It's not always the case that people charged with any offence- including sex offences- are guilty and we are all both entitled to a fair trial and to make the prosecution prove its case.

That often leads to uncomfortable and unpleasant experiences for witnessess and that's very regrettable.

Until someone can come up with an alternative ( and there's really no substitute for the judicial process) then we're stuck with it.

Rod( getting off soapbox)