Ordinary criminal cases in England split into two categories which overlap to produce a third. The first category is "Summary offences" like maybe you stole merchandise from a shop or you punched somebody in a bar fight but there was no lasting harm done. These are heard by Magistrates, who are just lay people who volunteered and are "of good character" - it's usually like teachers and bank managers and people like that - with no jury, the magistrates are restricted in what sentences they can possibly order, and an actual lawyer sits with them to explain any details of law.

At the other extreme there are "Indictable offences" like murder or rape. These are heard by a Judge and jury, guilt is decided by the jury and the sentence is only limited constitutionally (e.g. "life without possibility of parole" is prohibited as a sentence for any crime, except that it can be imposed for multiple independently conceived crimes of murder)

In the middle is an overlap "Tried either way". This means the Prosecutors can decide e.g. "This was very serious, we need a Judge to impose the harsh sentence we'll request" or "This seems pretty routine, let magistrates handle it". If the magistrates disagree (they meet only as panels of three) they can send the case to a judge for a harsher sentence whereas a judge doesn't need to send cases down to magistrates they can just impose a lesser sentence themselves.