Commentary on Sections Committal to Crown Court Section 52: Low-value shoplifting: mode of trial
464.Section 52 clarifies the effect of section 22A of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, inserted by section 176 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which made theft from a shop of property valued at £200 or less a summary offence.
465.The defendant’s right to elect to be tried in the Crown Court was retained. This section makes it clear that a low-value shoplifting case in which the defendant elects to be tried in the Crown Court is to be treated in the same manner as an either-way offence in which the defendant has so elected. These changes take effect two months after the Act is passed.