Check the time limit for commencing a Commonwealth prosecution
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the offence, the maximum imprisonment and the date of the alleged commission, state whether the bench book puts the prosecution in the one-year class or the at-any-time class, and how many days remain on the one-year class. Do not decide that a prosecution is in time.
- What the lawyer must review
- The lawyer decides the maximum penalty, checks whether the particular Act sets a different time, and decides whether the prosecution was commenced in time.
- Written for / version
- US
Open a jurisdiction version of this task to see which instruments apply: US
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Do not begin AI assistance until the responsible lawyer has defined and confirmed its permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Use the maximum imprisonment for the offence, not the penalty that might be imposed on the facts.
- If the maximum is more than six months, look for a time limit in the Act that creates the offence before treating the prosecution as open-ended.
- Count the year from the commission of the offence, and record the date the proceeding was actually commenced.
Sources
These are suggested working checks. Confirm the required checking with the responsible lawyer before work starts; the checking approach does not establish permission to use AI.