A specimen charge is a type of

criminal charge A criminal charge is a formal accusation made by a governmental authority (usually a public prosecutor or the police) asserting that somebody has committed a crime. A charging document, which contains one or more criminal charges or counts, can ...

that can be made under the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

legal system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four basic systems: civil law, common law, statutory law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history an ...

. It can be made when an individual is being charged with numerous violations of the same offence. It is used to simplify charging the person, as they would otherwise have to be charged with each individual offence. An example of someone being convicted on specimen charges is a 2005 case in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

where a man pleaded guilty to specimen charges after he was found to be in possession of 19,000

indecent images of children Child pornography laws in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are covered by the Protection of Children Act 1978 ("the 1978 Act"), which made it illegal to take, make, distribute, show, or possess for the intent of showing or distributing ...

. Another example would be the

Denmark Place fire The Denmark Place fire occurred on 16 August 1980 at 18 Denmark Place in Central London. The fire, caused by arson, killed 37 people of eight nationalities, most of whom were Spanish or Latin American, who were patrons of two unlicensed bars in ...

trial, where the culprit, whose act of

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

had killed 37 people, was given a specimen charge of the murder of just one of the victims. Other examples of when specimen charges could be laid include: * Obtaining social security benefits by deception for a specific sum of money on a specific day, evidence being adduced of a pattern of other such offences. * Indecently assaulting of a child who states they have been abused in the same way on many occasions, but cannot say precisely when or how often.

References

Law of the United Kingdom {{law-stub